Chance
by Lyxie
Summary: I’d figured you’d probably moved on… married some rich prince, forgotten that a goat herder from Ordon had ever loved you, had ever existed.' Zelink, postTP, UNMARKED SPOILERS!
1. Over Before It Began

**Chance**

_a.k.a. How Not To Fall In Love_

_by Lyxie_

_**Author's note: Hello again, everyone! I'm back from a hiatus that was too, too long. Before any of you start pestering me (as I simply know you will), yes, I am STILL working on editing Ordinary Story, as it's a mammoth of a beast to rewrite. So, bear with me, and hopefully it'll be ready for your eyes soon. But onto this story!! The title comes from the battle in the end of Twilight Princess with Ganondorf, where, as I'm sure many of you recall, you can choose to defeat him by clashing blades against him in a feat of strength called "Chance." That, I feel, is the spirit in which this piece is written, though it won't be made obvious until a little later. The entire story is finished and I'll be releasing it in small installments - don't worry, you'll have the whole story by mid-July at the VERY latest. That said, there's one more thing I'd like to make sure everyone is aware of. This story was not written in chapter format and not meant to be published in chapter format, however, I feel that that's the easiest way to put this out on the internet without having fifty of those obnoxious little 600-word chapters. **_

_**Whew! Too much A/N, not enough fanfiction. I hope all of you enjoy this, and as always, review, good or bad. I want your feedback!!**_

_**Disclaimer: This story line directly extends the end of Twilight Princess, which isn't mine. None of the characters except for Valin and Alyz are mine. If you want to borrow either of them, please ask my permission. **_

_**Enjoy!!!**_

**-----------Hyrule: Chateau Hylia, The Royal Retreat and current headquarters of Hyrule.**

**-----------Six months since Ganondorf's defeat.**

The Queen of Hyrule put her head in her hands, sighing as she turned her eyes away from the windows. Outside, the sun was setting, turning the sky a fiery orange; the color reminded her of Midna, as did the twilight that inched over the land. It had been half a year since that horrible parting, since that most glorious of battles and bittersweet of endings... half a year of pain and healing, growth, reconstruction. Most of Hyrule had, at last, been rebuilt, with the efforts of all the people- only Hyrule Castle remained to be seen to, though Castle Town was once again a buzzing hive of commerce and contentment. Hyrule's wounds had not yet fully mended, and still the people were pulling together and the unity between the many different species warmed Zelda's heart, which had so long been blanketed by sadness- sadness at the loss of her father and twin brother. Sadness at taking up the crown. Sadness at watching the land fall under he r rule.

At the forefront of the reconstruction had been Link, always working longer and harder than those around him, serving as an example and a leader. He was the Hero, and her people knew it- that it was Link who had saved them, and it was Link who was at the forefront of the rebuilding efforts. The people respected Link, and they respected Zelda, too- they had forgiven her her follies, and they had seen the strong friendship between the Queen and her Hero, not to mention the Hero's devotion to the Queen (for several hours every day, he trained her in the arts of warfare.) Romantics sighed whenever the two of them were together, and though Zelda would never have admitted it to anyone, she wished the romantics were right, that she and Link were in love and would wed, and the great Hero would be the Consort King of Hyrule. Zelda yearned for it, even, for she truly loved Link with all her heart, but she could not wed him; not now, not in the middle of all this mess. Her high council had come down on her hard for her "follies," and true that Zelda had been responsible, in part, for Hyrule's grim trials, she'd made every effort to save her people while her damned chancellors bantered and argued. By the time she'd swayed them to action it was too late, and yet, somehow, the whole catastrophe was still "her fault."

There had been a swift reversion to the old laws, the old ways, the old style of governing (though the council, unfortunately, remained), and though Zelda was in part largely in favor of such a reversion (it would allow her to have tighter, more secure reign, and through this perhaps she could avert any other disasters headed Hyrule's way) it also prevented the Queen from marrying any man not born into the uppermost crust of the Gentry. Link was an orphan, a goat herder from the small province of Ordon- wish though she might that she could marry him, she couldn't, and most likely never would be able to. True, she fully intended to put through a proposal to ratify certain more outdated decrees, however, it would be a long, long while before she could modify the traditions of royal marriage. And, she reminded herself, she didn't even know how Link felt for her, a source of endless frustration. She was fairly certain his heart was lost to her forever, encased within the Twilight Realm, with Midna; yearning for a union with him or even feelings of love was a worthless pastime and she had more important things to concentrate on, like the budget on the table before her, for one.

A soft rap at the door roused her from her thoughts, and she realized she was sitting in darkness- the sun had long since set, and Twilight departed. With a wave of her hand, the wall sconces all lit, filling the room with an orange light. "Enter," she called, watching.

"Majesty, the Hero Link is here to see you," said a servant with a respectful bow. Zelda sighed inwardly- was she to be tormented by him all night?

"See him in," she replied simply, and watched as he entered a moment later. As she stood to greet him, the servant left, shutting the door deferentially behind him. "Greetings, Hero," she said to Link, smiling softly as he looked at her- did he seem a little restless, or was it just her imagination? A little unhappily, she realized she'd gone and done it _again_; switched on the demure queen with no passions and no emotions, who viewed her favored Hero with warmth and gratitude, but not the love that truly raged, caged within her bosom.

"Highness," responded Link, kneeling respectfully before her, ducking his head. "I hope you are well?"

"Quite well," Zelda said, motioning for him to rise. "Please, Link. You know you need not bow to me. It is I who am indebted to you."

"Don't," Link said suddenly, causing Zelda to blink at him in surprise. "I did what I did because I had little choice. No debt is owed."

What was wrong with him this night? Zelda exhaled. "You saved my kingdom. I will feel gratitude towards you, regardless."

"I don't want your gratitude, Zelda," Link said, voice strained. He began to pace in anxiety, then, back and forth across the small study. Zelda watched him for a few moments, and then, tentatively, heart thudding, she moved forwards, took a step towards him.

"Would you care to have a seat?" Zelda offered, gesturing to an empty chair even as she moved away and sat behind her desk. Link glanced at the proffered chair once, shook his head, and continued with his pacing. She grasped for something else to say. "Thank you for taking it upon yourself to train me in the art of fighting. Your lessons are proving very beneficial, though I hope they will never be needed."

"My pleasure," blurted Link quickly, though his agitation seemed only to increase. Zelda cast her mind about again. With a smile, she thought of the word she'd received recently about the Zoras.

"Prince Ralis has stepped into his position of leadership admirably, from what I hear," she told Link warmly. "I am told that he strives to follow the example of courage you showed him."

No reply, only more pacing. With a sigh, Zelda dropped pretense and stood from her chair, moving to stand before Link. He halted as he neared her and turned towards her desk, eyes anywhere but her face. "Why have you come here this evening, Link? What is wrong?" She raised her hand, reaching out to him, and he ceased his pacing, gripping onto Zelda's desk as though it were the last thing holding his feet to the ground.

"I am leaving Hyrule," he told her through gritted teeth. "Tonight." Zelda flinched as though she'd been slapped, and waited for him to continue. When he did not, she dared to ask.

"Why?"

For a long moment, he was silent. At last, he looked to her, and she could see in those blue eyes pain of the deepest sort, the very kind that tormented her each day. He grieved with all his soul, she saw; for what and whom, she could well guess.

"I have loved, highness," he told her, "and loved profoundly, for naught. My closest friend was torn from me. The war changed me beyond recognition- so, too, is my family lost. The reconstruction is nearly through- you need me no longer, and your kingdom is secure. I need a sword in my hands, earth under my feet, the sun on my back and a shield on my arm. I simply cannot stay." He forced the last words out as though they tried to claw back down his throat as he spoke. Zelda's own throat was tight, her eyes moist.

"And... I can not persuade you to remain at my side? You are not alone in this kingdom, Link. You and I share similar, singular burdens. I do not believe I could make do without you, or your lessons for me."

"Your lessons... you've progressed far better than I thought you would, Highness. There is little left I can teach you. You are a prodigy of weapons. Have no fear," he added with a smile.

"But... I wish you would stay," Zelda said with a sigh, trying to open her heart. "I quite enjoy your company."

"Your company plagues my soul with wants," Link murmured, nearly inaudibly. Zelda took a stumbling step backward, and then, ever so slowly, moved forward, hardly daring to believe her ears.

"I mean you no harm, Hero... I hold you in the highest esteem."

"Esteem, esteem," Link laughed bitterly, turning his face to the ceiling. Pain was scrawled across his features, agony of the soul. "It is not your esteem I want, Zelda. It is your _love_- it is for you that my heart yearns."

Joy and sorrow exploded simultaneously within Zelda's chest, and in a moment she understood Link's need to leave, and agreed with it. She turned away, afraid to show him her face and the many emotions upon it. Carefully, she chose her words. "As much as I wish I could bestow such a thing upon you, it would be our curse. The... the traditions regarding monarchial marriage are unfortunate... and I'm not in a position with my council such that..."

Goddesses damn it, she was crying, and she knew he could tell. He was behind her- she could practically touch him, so close was he; she could feel his warmth along her back.

"Zelda..." Link said quietly, putting his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face him as the tears began to roll freely down her cheeks.

"Please, Link," she murmured, closing her eyes and trying to pull herself back together. "We cannot be together, nor can we love each other, not in circumstances such as these. If... if truly you intend to leave, return to me. Please. Promise me that someday you will return to Hyrule."

"I will come back," he promised fervently, blue eyes alight. "I will come back when things are all as they should be in Hyrule and when I know that I may lay down my blade for you with unimpeded, unquestioning loyalty."

"See that you do," Zelda whispered and then, oh so tentatively, she laid a hand on his cheek. "I will miss you, Link."

"And I you, Zelda," he replied, smiling regretfully into her eyes. "If while I am gone Hyrule has need of me, send word to Telma, in Castletown. She'll know how to reach me, or if she doesn't, one of her friends will."

"Travel safely, Hero," Zelda whispered, raw with emotion. She wanted nothing more than to throw herself into Link's arms and beg him not to go- but she couldn't. It wouldn't change anything, and would only cause them more pain. She'd been a fool to admit as much as she had in the first place.

"Fare thee well, Queen. Know that what conquests I make, I make in your name." Link stepped back and bowed before Zelda. Tears threatened to overwhelm her and she couldn't open her mouth for fear of sobbing. Seeing her pain, Link shut his eyes, as though her pain was his.

"You may go." She motioned for him to leave and, sighing sadly, he turned to go. Before he reached the door, Zelda couldn't help but blurt out his name. "Link!" It was strained, torn. He turned back to look at her, sadness in his eyes, in every line of his form.

"Yes, Highness?" he asked her quietly. His formality was nearly her undoing.

I love you, screamed her heart, even as she grasped for something, anything else. "Quest well," she finally managed, though her voice shook with tears. "When you return, you shall have a dukedom."

"It is no dukedom I want," he told her morosely. "Simply you."

Zelda nodded, laying a hand against her heart to show she understood. With one last lingering glance, Link left, and as the door shut behind him, Zelda crumpled to the floor, completely unable to restrain her tears.

She was now utterly, completely, and totally alone.

**-----------Termina: Snowhead Mountain**

**-----------One year since Ganondorf's defeat**

Link shivered in the cold, pulling his cloak tighter around him as he stomped through the snow, leading Epona by her reins. He didn't have any snowboots- pity- and, much to his chagrin, the snow was up to his waist. Furthermore, it looked like a blizzard was setting in, which was bad, bad news for him. He needed to find some shelter and fast.

He'd been dumb and defiant- taken the mountain pass from Hyrule to Termina in the first throes of winter, and now both he and his horse were paying quite the price for it. It was cold- painfully, almost unbearably so- and Link truly had no clue where they were going. He was trying to follow the signs, but many of them had been buried in the thick mounds of snow. So he relied on the rising and setting of the sun, as well as the orientation of the stars, to guide him.

He only hoped he hadn't made a fatal error in his decision to flee Hyrule so soon.

Snow began to fall in flurries, slowly at first and then faster. Link looked around desperately- where would he and Epona sleep? Where _could_ they sleep? They needed somewhere that wouldn't be completely covered by snow at the blizzard's end, with ventilation for smoke and something for Epona to eat, if such a place existed. But there was no shelter to be found, and so, unhappily, Link walked on, Epona right behind him all the while.

It snowed, harder and harder and harder, and Link began to feel fear for himself and his horse. If he couldn't find somewhere safe for them to sleep, he might as well just give up and die- for in the blizzard, that was what they would do. But all the world was white, it seemed, and that was no good at all. He pulled his cloak tighter around him, visibly shaking from the cold, and hunched forward to keep his warmth centered. Onward he trekked, hoping, praying...

He ran headfirst into a wall and something metal. Stars swimming before his eyes, he fell back into the snow, dazed and aching. He groped for what he'd hit and found what felt like a rung with his hand- now all he needed was the strength to pull himself back up. But the world was getting whiter and whiter, and he couldn't see...

Trapped outside in a howling blizzard in the middle of nowhere, Link, savior of Hyrule, lost consciousness.

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Uploaded: 16:00 Central Daylight Time, Monday June 25, 2007


	2. Unexpected Changes

**-----------Hyrule: The Grand Council Hall, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Three years and seven weeks since Ganondorf's defeat**

"Now, onto the next matter of business," wheezed one of Zelda's chancellors, and she had to keep from groaning. Chancellor Rubin Sorisba was the oldest and wheeziest of the chancellors, and, as such, ran the board, practically. His matters of "great importance" and "business" were nothing more than wastes of time- Zelda didn't care about the place settings at banquets, she wanted to reform the Hylian infrastructure, Din burn it! She wanted to pass laws and decrees, help her poor from poverty and lead her rich in examples of good citizenship, but no. They had to discuss petty, superficial things- only last week, they'd spent a full hour debating napkin holders. Napkin holders!

"Highness, it has come to our attention that there are several suitors here for you in the palace- princes, well-to-do noblemen and the like. I believe I speak for the whole council when I say that we are of an opinion that you should marry."

"Marry," stated Zelda vaguely. "And what has put this notion into your head?" She was rather a little more snappish than she usually was, but goodness! Marriage was the last thing on her mind.

(Actually, that was a lie. Marriage to anyone but Link was the last thing on her mind. She still loved him, even after all this time apart, but she was starting to doubt that he'd ever return for her.)

"Highness, you are aging," wheezed another of the chancellors, the Duke of Plimbery. "The throne needs an heir."

"My father before me lived to the age of forty-five, and only died so young due to an odd strike of disease, the same that killed my brother, though it was the first strike in two centuries. My great-grandmother lived to the age of eighty, and my grandmother to eighty four. The royal family has a tradition of longevity, and I fully intend to carry on that tradition. I am not yet one and twenty- there is no reason to suppose I might die, and no heir is necessary."

"But, highness," another chancellor began to whine, however, Zelda stood, placing her hands flat on the table.

"I'll not marry and give my crown away to some man who will cater to your disorderly whims," she said firmly. "This council has a tradition of uncertainty and incorrectness in the face of what is best for the country- for example, the invasion of Zant and Ganondorf, and I'll not be argued with again. I will not marry," she said firmly. "Not to any man who doesn't have a good head on his shoulders and can't best me in every single area of combat."

"A challenge, Highness?" murmured an old Marquis. "Many will try you."

"None will best me," she said confidently. "Though few people have ever seen me raise my blade in combat, those who have know just exactly what it means when I say that I will not marry one who can't beat me. And, providing some man does, indeed, best me at swordsmanship, there is still the matter of archery, grappling, and hand-to-hand to deal with. I'll not be swayed," she stated coldly. "For I will not marry a man who can't defend himself. Who that can't keep their own person safe can ensure the safety of their country?"

The council was silent. Satisfied, Zelda looked about the table.

"Now, I want you all to listen to me. I've endured your bickering and superficial dissent for long enough. I'm instituting a change here and now. You are to bicker and dissent on your own time on the issues which you feel are most important. When you have reached conclusions on these matters, I will hear your decision and reasoning. If I approve, the motion will be passed, and if I disapprove the motion will be vetoed. Frankly, gentlemen," she added, sweeping the table with a gaze of disdain, "I have more important things to do with my time than listen to a bunch of old men argue about napkin holders and place cards. Until you get your acts together, I'll listen to the issues of the people in an open forum each morning in the time I would otherwise spend listening to your blathering."

They were, predictably, all appalled. "Highness," gasped Sorisba, looking rather like a fish out of water. "You can't just- can't just do away with your council. This is one of Hyrule's oldest and richest traditions, dating back far past the time of your great-great-grandfather, and I, for one, won't stand for it. Besides, who will balance your power?"

"I already have a panel of impartial advisors- no more, no less- lined up. They will attend to matters at my discretion and report back to me without bias. Present your argument to me on why _you_ should stay after the open forum tomorrow morning," stated Zelda blandly. "I've already had word spread throughout Hyrule. And, in case you had forgotten, I _can_ just do away with this tradition, or any tradition I choose. I am the sovereign of this country and power is mine to mete as I please. Good day, gentlemen," she added, and, without waiting for reply, she waltzed from the room.

In the hall, she smiled, relieved. Perhaps such a confrontation was far out of character from her, but for once, she'd acted with passion and conviction, instead of with demure deference.

_No more royal doormat,_ thought Zelda gleefully._ I'm finally taking matters into my own hands._

**-----------Hinterlands of Holodrum: Somewhere beyond the Samasa Desert**

**-----------Six years and eight months since Ganondorf's defeat**

Valin Leonas brushed the sand off the rag he'd tied over his nose and mouth and looked to the caravan for what felt like the umpteenth time in the past few minutes. The camels were plodding along at a painfully slow pace, and though he appreciated their stoutness in the unrelenting heat, he just wanted out of this blasted desert. He'd been here at least a full third of the year and he was tired of the sand.

"Holding up there?" asked a friendly voice at Valin's side. The adventurer turned his head to take in the sparkling eyes of his good friend and most trusted companion, Link. The young earl snorted, then turned his eyes back to the caravan.

"How the hell are you so perky in this bedamned heat? It's a miracle we haven't keeled over."

"I've dealt with worse," Link commented, eyes squinting as he measured the sun against the horizon. "You ever been in a volcano, Leonas?"

"No," Valin replied irritably. Link grinned at his friend then, though it was hidden by the cloth he wore over his nose and mouth.

"Didn't think so. Just praise the goddesses there's no moisture in the air- then we'd _really_ be miserable. Besides, deserts aren't so bad, especially not this one. It's just big."

"Too big," grunted Valin. "When we took on this job, I didn't realize how _massive_ this blasted place would be."

"We should start seeing signs of life within the next week, and be out of the desert in a fortnight," Link informed his friend blandly, sparing a brief glance for the skeleton of a great boar that laid within the sand, bones long since picked clean of any meat.

"Oh, good," Valin replied irritably. For all he was grumpy, though, his eyes routinely swept the desert for bandits. He looked briefly at his friend, and to his friend's horse, the only one in the party. "How's Epona holding up?"

"Doing just fine, aren't you, girl?" Link asked his russet war horse. She tossed her head and snorted cheerfully, seeming for all the world untroubled by the heat, or the infrequency of water. Though Leonas knew better, sometimes he suspected that both man and horse were more than mortal- they were too resilient, had too much strength and endurance, and each had more lives than a cat.

Valin Leonas knew, of course, that Link was the forgotten hero who had rescued Hyrule from the clutches of most dire evil the moment he laid eyes on the man. Link didn't radiate good, not exactly, nor did he radiate purity, but there was something about him that told Valin that he could trust him through thick and thin with anything and everything.

Valin and Link met under rather strange circumstances- Valin had been in an area investigating claims of a hidden temple filled with all sorts of divine secrets, not to mention riches, and though he was going about his business in an unobtrusive way, the previously friendly locals had a stroke of bad luck, and decided Valin was the cause. They'd imprisoned him when Link happened along, and the adventurer had seemed amused to see the rumpled young earl in a cage. He bartered with the locals for the man's life if he could fix all the bad luck, and sure enough, less than a fortnight later all was prosperous and then some within the village. Valin was released, and insisted on accompanying Link to repay his life-debt. Though the adventurer was, at first, annoyed by the considered 'tagalong,' the two became the closest of friends, and though Valin was not the adventurer Link was, he was quite often rather handy to have around.

That had been two years ago, and now the men shared a bond closer than that of brothers. They'd been through innumerable scrapes together, and had laughed and mourned together. They had much in common- both men were Hylian and shared a deep passion for their home country, both had been restless in their small duties and had set out in the name of glory and adventure, both had understood the thrill of battle but rejected the joy in killing. Their vast differences in background kept things interesting- Valin had been born into the gentry, and when he returned to Hyrule he would take up earldom. Link did not talk of his past, but Valin knew it had been unlike his: lonely and difficult.

Then again, with the fortune he was amassing in his adventures, Link would probably be able to buy all of Hyrule when he returned. He would want for nothing, Valin was fairly certain. At least, he'd want for nothing monetary.

Treasures seemed to have an odd habit of finding their way into Link's hands. Link never did anything different from Valin, but when Link looked in alcoves he found riches and treasure chests. When Valin looked in alcoves, he found spiderwebs. The earl laughed it off with his usual good humor- he had no wants for money, and found enough treasure as it was anyway, though the two men frequently donated portions of their findings to the needy. 'After all,' as Link would often say, 'it's not as though we'll be able to take _all_ this back to Hyrule with us.'

Thinking of the kingdom brought a longing to the forefront of Valin's mind. He'd been gone from Hyrule quite some time- three years, at least, and he knew Link had been gone twice that, if not more. It would be a long journey back to Hyrule, Valin knew: they would have to get out of this stinking desert, for one, and from there, they'd need to make their way across Holodrum and sail across the great sea. They'd land in a Terminian Port in the Great Bay, and from there, make their way up to Snowhead, cross to Snowpeak, and then go down to Hyrule. The trip would take half a year, maybe more, and truly, Valin wanted to go home. Sweeping the desert around him with a fierce brown gaze, he turned his eyes on his friend.

"Link, I've been thinking," Valin said, voice muffled by the mask he wore over his nose and mouth.

"I hope you didn't hurt yourself," the adventurer replied with a smirk. Valin sighed and rolled his eyes, and urged his slow camel onwards.

"Very funny, Mr. Money. I was thinking... maybe we should go back to Hyrule." At this, Link stilled, and an air of silence seemed to descend around him. The adventurer looked at the horizon for bandits, saw none, glanced once at the caravan he guarded, and turned his cold blue gaze back upon his friend.

"I am not sure I am quite ready to return to that place, Valin," Link told him, and the flatness of his friend's tone sent shivers down his back.

"Why not, Link? You've been gone a long, long time. There's no reason not to."

"I just can't," stated Link plainly. Valin sighed and rolled his eyes- clearly, this was one of Link's pigheaded irrationalities, such as breaking every pot and crate he saw.

"Link, I know you, and I know it's not like you to run from your problems. Whatever it is... you need to confront it."

"Not yet," Link told his friend. Seeing Valin's skeptical eyes, Link sighed. "Soon, I promise, but I need just a little longer away... here, I have a thought. We will journey to Termina when we are through with this desert quest, and stay in Clock Town through winter. In late spring, when the mountain roads thaw, we'll make our way up to Snowhead and be to Hyrule by the start of summer. Fair enough?"

"Ten months," mused Valin. Knowing it was the best he would get from his friend, he nodded his head in consent. "Agreed. First things first, though," he added, hand tightening around his spear as he nodded to an oncoming train of bandits peering over the horizon. "Let's get out of this blasted desert in one piece with our reputations as adventurers intact."

A carnal smile split Link's face below his mask as he eyed the bandits. He shouted a word of warning to the driver of the caravan as he drew his blade, which glimmered like silver fire underneath the desert sun. "Let's."

**-----------Hyrule: The Courtroom, Hyrule Palace**

**-----------Six years and eleven months since Ganondorf's defeat**

The Queen of Hyrule was not a force to be trifled with. Though she appeared as innocent and harmless as she was good and kind, criminals painfully learned that she was excruciatingly fair, and offenders of the law quickly reformed.

Sakon the thief stood on trial, shackled by the hands and feet to the floor, head held high as his list of offenses were read.

"Multiple counts of theft from various castle town vendors and citizens, the murder of Delila Bourghess, and reports of unholy acts with a goat. Sakon Gerroux, how do you plead?"

He knew there was no point in resisting or pleading innocent, so, head held high, he stated clearly, "guilty."

"What punishment will the Queen mete out?" asked the meter. Sakon watched as the Queen stood from where she was seated at a long table at the forefront of the room and walked around it, towards Sakon. The thief gulped with nervousness as she neared. She was beautiful, and the look of sadness upon her face as she took him in filled him with the deepest shame.

"You have committed many terrible crimes against my people, Sakon. Why would a man such as you do things so terrible to his fellow Hylians? Are you not blessed to be living in this beautiful land where the power of the Gods slumbers? Do you yearn for the agony and anarchy of bygone years, and thus act with hate?"

"No, no, my lady, and truly, I am sorry for my actions," Sakon said, and it was true, for the Queen's evident pain had moved him to tears.

"You are only sorry because you have seen my suffering- truly you were not sorry after you inflicted such terrible pain on others, nor were you sorry even a quarter of an hour ago. You must suffer, Sakon, as you have made others suffer. It agonizes me to decree it," Zelda said, looking upon him sadly but without pity. She then turned to the meter, and pronounced clearly as she moved back to the table, "I hereby command it thus, that Sakon Gerroux, thief, is to serve fifteen years in purgatory- ten years in the castle dungeon, and the last five in public slavery. If his behavior is good and he shows evidence of change at the end of these fifteen years he will be released with police watch. If not, he will be executed."

"Be it done," declared the meter, banging the gavel once against the podium. Sakon was dismissed

It struck him as he was hauled away that the punishment was perfectly fitting- a year for each of his ten offenses of theft and five years for the murder; his sentence would be long, painful. He would suffer as he had made others suffer.

The Queen of Hyrule was painfully fair.

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Uploaded: 16:00 Central Daylight Time, Monday June 25, 2007


	3. The Longest Night

_**A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews!! Keep them coming and I'll keep the chapters coming, too! Hopefully you'll all enjoy these two scenes, both of which I particularly love. That said, read away!**_

**-----------The Great Sea: Pago's Bar, Windfall Island**

**-----------Exactly seven years since Ganondorf's defeat**

Link tossed back another shot of bitter liquor and stared broodingly at the bar, trying to drink away the heavy cloud of depression that settled upon him. He'd gotten like this twice a year every year since leaving Hyrule, but this time was by far the worst. He didn't have it in him to go back to Hyrule again- by now, he was sure Zelda would have forgotten him, or wed, or something equally unpleasant, though he'd dreamt of her every night, cried out her name when he was in the direst of danger, prayed to the Goddesses for her security and happiness. Word had come from Hyrule, intermittently; Telma's little group of rebels had cleverly set up a dispatch of pigeons, and it was in this way that Link occasionally got word to and from home. The country was secure and stable, the economy booming, the reign secure... all was well, it seemed. Really, there was no need for Link to go back. He'd be idle, he'd get bored, and Zelda would have aught to do with him, he was sure...

"Barkeep," Link grunted. The man looked up from where he was polishing a water stained glass- he was portly and balding, and wore a shirt that had seen better days. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and the fabric underneath his armpits was of indeterminable hue. It was dark in the bar, though- for this, Link was grateful, as the Hero preferred to drink himself into a hole under the cover of anonymity. "More."

"You're hittin' the bottle mighty hard tonight, son," said the Barkeep, eyeing Link suspiciously. "Maybe too hard, if you ask me. What's got you troubled?"

"Seven years tonight since I watched my closest friend kill herself," Link stated blandly to the barkeep. "Six and a half years since the love of my life said she wouldn't have me. More," he insisted, and without question the Barkeep handed over a large bottle of liquor.

"Now, I don't normally endorse drinkin' 'til you don't feel, son," the Barkeep said, "but seems you need it. This here's good to do the trick. Have the whole bottle," he added.

"Thanks," grunted Link, uncorking the bottle and pouring it straight into his mouth. It tasted only faintly of alcohol, more like a potion, but Link could feel from the warmth in his stomach that it was doing the trick of getting him slobbering, fall-down, don't-feel drunk admirably.

"Say, son, what's your name?" the Barkeep asked Link. The Hero glanced up, then back down. It had been a long, long time since anyone had come looking for him, whether to kill him or otherwise, but you still couldn't be too cautious. And Link was drunk and vulnerable.

"Klin," Link said, spinning the bottle broodingly.

"How old are you, Klin? Seems a mighty bit's happened to you in all your young years."

"I'm twenty five," Link replied, then took another swig from the bottle.

"Hmm," responded the Barkeep. "Well, Klin, you're still young. Far as I can see, you still got your whole life ahead of you, and there's plenty more opportunity on the road ahead."

"All my life's been the same," grunted Link after a deep pull from the bottle. "Well, mostly. Before a big war in my homeland happened, I lived a simple life on a ranch. Understandably, the war upset everything, and I was one of the men called to arms. I fought, killed, watched my loved ones die... I met the friend I told you of while fighting. She went everywhere I did in combat, and we always fought side by side. She was a clever girl- she disguised herself. I didn't even fully realize that she was a woman until she killed herself the night the war ended."

"Why'd she kill herself?" asked the Barkeep curiously. Link laughed hollowly.

"She said she couldn't remain in this world after all she'd seen of it, among other things. The woman I- I loved, she was there too. She stuck with me for the next half year, but when I finally went to her with my feelings, she said she could never marry me, or be involved with me, and that it was best if I left the country. So leave I did, swinging a sword, and I haven't been back in the six and a half years hence... Valin- my good friend these past few years, an adventurer like myself- he's dragging me back. Says it's time for me to face my fears. I don't want to go back," Link slurred, finishing off the bottle.

"I'd imagine not, son. Now, I'm no expert and obviously I don't know the nitty gritties of your story, but I know women and I'll give you advice. A woman, like a man, likes a good challenge. She don't like to just fall into a man's arms. Well," the Barkeep cut himself off with a chuckle, "sometimes they do, but they want passion and struggle. A whirlwind romance, really. Now, I'm willing to bet that that lady of yours'll come around to seeing things your way and you two can get married if you make it difficult for her."

"What makes you sure?" Link asked, spinning the empty bottle about on its base, though he was having trouble with it- his motor skills were going, bit by bit. The Barkeep smiled genially and leaned forward.

"I got me a wife and seven daughters, Klin. I learned more about women than I'd ever like to know from them. Women? They's hellhounds, but they's worth it in the end. You just gotta bring 'em around."

"Bring them around..." Link mused drunkenly. A light went on in his head then (as lights often do with the inebriated mind) and Link shot up from the bar, teetering a little unsteadily on his two feet. "That's it! I'll... I'll win her over! I'll make her regret the day she told me to leave! And... and... oh." Link dropped rather suddenly back into his chair. The Barkeep watched in amusement as the adventurer laid his head on the wood, drooling a little pathetically. "I hope she didn't get married while I was gone. She promised to wait for me though, Barkeep," Link slurred noisily, waggling a finger in the amused man's direction. "I think. And she said she would miss me. She cried when I told her I was leaving."

"Why couldn't she marry you?" the Barkeep asked curiously. Link dragged his head out and grasped for a bottle. The barkeep quickly filled up an empty bottle with water and passed it to the drunken adventurer.

"She was in a pickle." Link took a slurp of the water and made a face. "Yuck, what is this stuff?"

"Fine brew from across the Sea," stated the Barkeep grandly, "On the house for you, you poor young and troubled man."

"Oh," grunted Link, and proceeded to gulp down more water. "Well. You see, this lady here I was in love with was actually a Princess, and I was a commoner. A goat herder. Nobody. Princesses can't marry goat herders, 'specially if they're nobody, like me."

"How did you come to know this princess?" inquired the Barkeep, now genuinely curious.

"Y' see," said Link, sitting back and gesticulating wobbily as he spoke,"while in the process of saving her kingdom, I ran into her a time or two. Actually, I was the one that saved her from the big bad guy. It was just after that that my friend killed herself. Funny thing- the friend was a relative of the princess, too, sort of. What a messed up world this is we live in," Link added, slapping himself in the forehead. "Oy."

"So, what was the princess's name?" the Barkeep asked Link, getting him another bottle of water. This time, the Hero downed it without question.

"Zelda," intoned the Hero, sing-songing the princess's name. "Princess of Hyrule."

"She's not yet married, I've heard," informed the Barkeep merrily. Link's eyes lit up and a smile of the happiest sort spread across his face.

"Really?"

"Really. So why don't you put your troubles behind you, Klin? Make a new start in the world? Your friend's dead, but there's nothing you can do about that but move on. Woo your princess. If I'm not invited to the royal wedding, I'll be sorely offended."

"You can come!" Link said, throwing his hands up in the air and beaming brilliantly before a frown crossed his features.

"What inn are you staying at?" asked the Barkeep, knowing in the way of seasoned veterans that his very drunk patron needed to retire, preferably sooner than later.

"The purple one," Link managed, and gratefully took the bucket proffered to him by the Barkeep. A moment later, he emptied the contents of his stomach into the receptacle with a groan.

"That'll be a red ruppee," said the Barkeep cheerfully, "tab, bucket, escort service and all. Pay my man when he gets you back to your room." And, sure enough, moments later a large man appeared out of the shadows and helped the poor, inebriated adventurer across Windfall island to his hotel of choice, and the two paused not a few times in the bushes so that Link might vomit in peace and relative seclusion.

Valin was waiting up for his friend, and was quite happy to hand over payment in exchange for his drunken companion. He'd been quite shocked the first time Link came back to where they were staying, wasted, several years hence, but having since heard the same particulars the Barkeep had pried out of the drunken Hero (save for the name of the lady he loved, but Valin could very well guess that), Valin allowed his friend his two nights a year that he never remembered. Hopefully, this would be the last time he would help his overboozed friend to bed and leave a bucket nearby and all candles out of reach.

After all, the man had more than earned his right to drunkenness, but Valin could only pray for no more drunk nights. That more than anything else, any surface appearance, any words, could show that Link was finally truly happy, and one of Valin's deepest fears was that that would never be the case.

Poor Link, thought Valin as he listened to the sound of his friend's retching and labored breathing. Hopefully, happiness would find him and soon. Hopefully, this return to Hyrule would be the cure for all ailments. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully.

**-----------Hyrule: The Queen's Chambers, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Exactly seven years since Ganondorf's defeat**

Zelda stood before the tall mirror in her bedchamber, the doors securely bolted and the windows all shuttered, curtains drawn. She was not to be disturbed through this, the longest night of winter, and the whole palace knew it- though the entire country celebrated, as usual, the Queen always appeared to mourn on the eve of her country's great victory. Many chalked her behavior up to humility- that even all these years later, she could not forgive herself the great mishap she'd brought upon her people, and though she would often appear in the mornings to begin the festivities, come evening, the Queen was in self-imposed exile.

In truth, it was not mourning, but a celebration of her own small kind that the Queen enjoyed this night. She'd lit a candle and set it on the floor, close enough to the mirror to give her light but not so close that she might knock it over, and she had traded her finery for a simple gown, foregoing the gloves all together. She lifted the knife she held within her grasp and, delicately, she pricked the tip of her finger. Blood welled at the point where blade and flesh had met and, with slow ceremony, Zelda drew a scrawling symbol on the reflective glass in the rosy ink of her life's water. Content, she stepped back, popping her finger into her mouth for a moment as she waited for the bleeding to stop. When she was satisfied that it had at last, she began to pray before the mirror, excitement speeding her quiet words a little more than was necessary.

Minutes passed without fruit, until, at last, the mirror began to glow. Intense golden light shone out from the dried blood, illuminating the room brighter than it ever was, even at midday. The light brightened and brightened until it was nearly blinding and then, quite suddenly, it disappeared, and Zelda opened her eyes. The glass of the mirror was gone, and behind the mirror was a room quite similar to Zelda's, save for the decidedly darker decorations and the tall, exotic-looking, unspeakably beautiful woman who stood within.

"Midna!" Zelda cried, overjoyed to see her long-lost friend. The twilight princess stepped forward and the two caught each other up in dear hugs. For a long while, neither let go, until at last the Queen of Hyrule stepped back and smiled. "How have you been?"

"I've been alright, I suppose," Midna replied with a smirking smile. "And you?"

"I am doing well as well," Zelda said with a little incline of her head and a grin."Tell me, how are things in the Twilight Realm?"

"Chaotic," Midna said with a roll of her eyes. "In the palace, at least. Madelie and Avon are at their most rambunctious stage- they run around and scream for hours on end and generally cause more terror than Zant ever did, the hellions." She chuckled fondly, though, and smiled at the thought of her children. Zelda smiled, too, as she looked upon her dear friend.

"It seems that little ones are the same no matter which world they live in. And Jynn...?"

"He's doing well. We're all doing well," Midna said with a smile. "I'd never had thought I would be cut out for family life, but I find it quite enjoyable, most of the time. The most shocking thing of all is that raising kids is, in many ways, less difficult than keeping Link from breaking his neck ever was. The man was insane. I don't know why I put up with him," Midna stated loftily, leaning against the frame of her own mirror and inspecting her nails. A glance up revealed her friend's pained face, and the Twilight Princess sighed. "He still hasn't come back?"

"I fear he never will," Zelda replied softly. "It's been six and a half years now- surely if he meant to return, he would have come."

"Zelda, he promised you he'd come back, and if I ever knew one thing about Link it's that he'd die before breaking his word- oh, don't start crying! Link's harder to kill than a... than a cockroach, or worse! He's a madman and he's probably broken every bone in his body twice over by now but... oh, Zelda, don't worry. If he'd died, I'd have known. You'd have known. The two of us share a bond with him... here, let me tell you what I think has happened. Probably that dumb man has lost track of time."

"Lost track of seven years?" Zelda said with a hollow laugh.

Midna's mouth twisted up wryly and her eyes twinkled as she responded. "Why yes, actually. You know, he spent three days toodling about in some cave near Lake Hylia once, and when I got on his case he griped that it couldn't have been more than an hour or two that he was in there- no, I'm serious!" Midna protested as Zelda began to genuinely laugh. "He probably thinks it's only been a year, maybe two, since he left. Sometimes I genuinely suspected that time flows differently for that man. Zelda, he'll be back soon, I'm certain of it."

"Really? Oh, look at me, sniveling away like this," Zelda stated self-deprecatingly, wiping away the faint moisture that had collected in the corners of her eyes. "I only get to see you once a year and I make you comfort me."

"I understand, don't worry," Midna replied, reaching out to clasp her friend on the arm. The blonde woman smiled, and then pulled up a chair, sitting before the empty mirror. Not fully crossing over into the other's world was a safety precaution both women had agreed upon- in case something went wrong, they didn't want one person to be trapped, possibly forever.

"So," Zelda began, ready to talk away the night with her scarce-seen friend. "Tell me how the past year has been- tell me everything."

They talked first of their personal lives- family, friends, loves, and then progressed to politics and the gritty details of secure reign. They reminisced, even argued a little, and, many hours later, they cried some as well as they said goodbye.

"Have faith, Zelda," murmured Midna as the two embraced in parting. The early rays of dawn created a twilight on the horizon- their time was fast fading. "Link will return to you, and soon. I just know it."

"Thank you," she replied into her friend's shoulder, then stepped back with glistening eyes. "Take care of yourself, Midna. Don't let your children drive you to madness."

"Or my husband," chuckled the Twilight Queen- her eyes, too, were misty as she stepped to her side of the mirror. "Well, Zelda..." she mused, looking the Hylian monarch up and down fondly. "I guess this is it for another year."

"Yeah," agreed Zelda, and then smiled at her friend, happy and sad at once. "Don't work yourself too hard, Midna."

This earned a genuine grin. "Same to you," replied the other woman. "Well... see you."

"Goodbye," agreed Zelda, and as the two stepped away in unison, letting the magic that they'd woven between their worlds slip away, the mirror seemed to reappear from nowhere and the world behind it vanished.

Exhausted, the Queen of Hyrule staggered to the window and opened the shutters enough to see the sun peering shyly over the horizon. With a sigh, she sagged onto her bed, ready to do as the rest of her country would do in the aftermath of the previous night's extensive celebration- she was going to sleep the day away.

As she shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she remembered that first terrible parting from Midna, and the six partings in the years since. None had ever been so difficult as that first parting so long ago, but Zelda couldn't help but wonder when the tradition would die out- or if it would, even. It warmed her heart that the monarchs of both the light and the twilight realm might continue to meet on the anniversary of their separation. What was it Midna had said before shattering the Mirror of Twilight? "Never forget that there's another world bound to this one..."

As light slipped through the shutters of her windows, the Queen of Hyrule fell asleep at last.

* * *

Uploaded: 15:05 Central Daylight Time, Wednesday June 27, 2007 


	4. Past, Present, Future

**-----------Termina: Port Great Bay, The Great Bay and outskirts**

**-----------Seven years and five weeks since Ganondorf's defeat**

Link was normally a pretty dignified seagoer, but even he had moments- like now- where he simply _had_ to hang his head over the railing of the ship and bid the contents of his stomach farewell and merry journey across the sea. Next to him, Valin wasn't faring much better- their retches chorused together under the incredibly stormy sky, and were the sailors not so busy trying to get the ship to port without busting it to bits on the choppy sea or the rocks below, they would have laughed. As it was, their yells mostly covered up the sound of the two adventurers' vomiting.

"I am never sailing again," grunted Valin, who was the color of a sheet- a greenish sheet, that is- and whose forehead was covered in a fine sheen of cold sweat. Link, who wasn't looking any prettier (underneath his tan, he was quite a lovely shade of puce) nodded his agreement. As the ship roiled over a great swell, Link's stomach roiled with it and he stuck his head over the rails again. Valin sat with his head tilted back, simply breathing in the salty sea air and relishing the feeling of rainwater on his face.

"You know, there have been a number of times in my life where I was absolutely convinced I was going to die," mused Link once he was done vomiting yet again. "I'm pretty sure this takes the shiny golden medal."

"If we reach land alive, we celebrate," stated Valin.

"Deal," agreed Link. The ship heaved, and thus, too, did Valin- this time, it was Link's turn to tilt his head back and breathe as his friend spewed out into the sea. "Perhaps we should go below deck," he thought aloud. "Bread helps, I believe, as will water. Not to mention being dry."

"Speak to me not of food," groaned Valin.

"Nevertheless, we're in the way," replied Link, even as the sailors swung agilely above their heads, seemingly untroubled by the rolling of the ship or the ceaseless pounding of the rain. "And I don't know about you, but there's not much left in my stomach for me to lose."

"I'll agree with you on that count," stated Valin. "Perhaps we _should_ go back down, away from that wobbly horizon... ugh." The earl tried to stand and failed, and, figuring he had little dignity left to lose after his impressive show of regurgitory linguistics, he crawled back down below deck, Link behind him and faring only mildly better.

While Link sat on the floor in their shared cabin, eating bread and drinking water and looking as though he were about to die, Valin crawled about, gathering the small possessions that hadn't made it into their travel bags, or had made it in but had become dislodged in the turbulent travel. Priceless trinkets rolled and bumped about on the wooden floor, as well as bottles, maps, scrolls, and a small ocarina Link had taught himself to play. As it rolled past him, the blonde adventurer picked it up and pressed it to his lips, playing a soothing (albeit shaky) tune in the attempt to calm himself and his companion. He played a simple song he'd found scratched into a cave wall in Termina, a sweet, tender song that had read "Zora's Lullaby" (assuming Link had read the chickenscratch right.) Zora though it may have been, something in the tune calmed him and reminded him of Hyrule, of Zelda.

"I say," chimed Valin sometime later, slipping into the distinctly upper class speech he used when sick or tired, "I do believe we've docked. Link, that tune was just the thing we needed to get through the storm!"

"All I want is to get off this boat," replied the hero from where he leaned against the wall of the cabin, ocarina clutched within his grasp.

"No fretting, chap, we're straight near off this hunk of floating wood. Why, the captain's men ought to be down for us right any minute now."

"Valin?"

"Yes?"

"You're talking like a frilly."

"Oh, sorry."

'Frilly' was Link's verb of choice pertaining to the upper class snobs found in every culture who thought highly of themselves, yet made no contributions to their societies. They walked with their noses in the air, spoke derisively and unnecessarily, and their clothes, more often than not, had so many frills, flounces, and bows as to thoroughly sicken Link. Valin had picked up on his use of the word quick enough, and had been on the receiving end of it more than once when his friend had been grumpy, injured or tired, or even sometimes (as in this case) correct.

For all his speech was indeed 'frilly,' Valin was right- within the next five minutes, a sailor came to their cabin to tell them it was now safe to depart the boat. Sighing with relief, the hero and the earl grabbed their travel bags, slinging them over their shoulders and staggering gratefully from the cabin, up to the deck and then down the gangplank. Never, Link thought as he set foot on land and felt a rush of joy, had he ever been happier to depart the sea. Forgetting himself, he dropped his travel bags and hugged Valin, who was equally euphoric. Within minutes, both the adventurer's horses were also led down the gangplank from the cargo hold, looking about the same that the adventurers felt.

"What to do first? Celebrate, or celebrate?"

"Find an inn with a stable," Link stated, looking around the buzzing port town. "It's stopped raining for now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it started up again."

"Good thought," agreed Valin. "You know, there's that place on the North side of town, run by that lovely purple-haired chit... Kafine. The Singing Pot, I think?"

"The Singing Kettle," corrected Link. "I was actually thinking of that. Kafine's father owes me a favor or two... come on." Without further comment, Link grabbed Epona's bridle and slung his travel bags over her, then led her in the direction of The Singing Kettle. Valin followed, grabbing the bridle of his glossy white stallion Deity. He was a good horse, sturdy and proud, not to mention one of the finest examples of the amazing Romani horses bred in Termina Valin had ever seen. He'd come with the name- he was proud, and there was a certain legend about a particular god simply referred to as "The Fierce Detiy" who battled off evil in times of great strife for Termina. The idea had rather charmed Valin, and so he'd kept Deity close by him- excluding his little desert excursion with Link, when he'd been boarded at a small but trustworthy horse ranch in Holodrum. Right now, though, Deity didn't look very fierce- maybe more wet and distinctly uncomfortable, and also a little seasick, if such a thing was possible for a horse.

"Come on, boy," said Valin, patting Deity's neck fondly as he led him along by the bridle. "Let's get you to a stable that doesn't sway that has fresh oats." The horse whinnied his agreement, tossing his head, and they fell into step behind Link and Epona.

The little party wound its way through the streets of Port Great Bay, which were still crowded despite the gently falling rain. People bustled about their business, cloaks drawn up and heads ducked to avoid wetness. Valin hunched his shoulders and tried to ignore the cold and the damp- only Link walked with his head and shoulders head high, and did Valin not know better he'd have thought that Link didn't realize it was raining. The young earl did know better, though- Link's poise was really just the adventurer trying to pretend like it wasn't an issue.

Really, thought Valin, the man had odd ways of coping with things sometimes.

However, little did Valin know that the pride in Link's bearing was not from attempts to ignore the rain, but attempts to ignore the rapid pounding of his heart. He was in Termina- so, so close to Hyrule, which was one of the last places on the map he wanted to go ever again... in fact, on his top list of places he really did not want to go, it was just beneath a boiling vat of water and just above a pit of bugs. Valin had been right in the desert all those months ago when he'd accused Link of running from his problems, but still. What if Link _wanted_ to run? What if this was the one problem he didn't want to- Goddesses, _couldn't_- face?

In the back of his mind, he recalled his drunken resolution on the anniversary of Midna's departure to make Zelda fight for him, but by the light of day and without the boost of alcohol, such a thing was a frightening thought. Really, Link thought, Zelda would be better off without him. He'd just make her life complicated- she was a princess, he was a goat herder, and she couldn't afford to be in love with a nobody when her kingdom depended on her...

But he'd promised to go back, he reminded himself sternly, and what kind of hero- no, what kind of man- would he be if he didn't honor that?

He looked up, and saw he'd been so lost in his thoughts that time had escaped him, as it often seemed to; the adventurers stood just outside the inn.

"I'll go take care of the rooms, see what I can't get us for a while," Link said to Valin, and then left his horse's reins in his friend's care and entered the inn.

There was a small, tidy reception area on the bottom floor, as well as a tavern. Link moved first to the reception area, though his body yearned for a pint of ale and some good, hearty meat. That could come later, though- _after_ he'd gotten himself and his friend a place to stay, not before. He stepped up to the desk, boots thudding on the stone floors, and smiled charmingly at the young woman who looked up expectantly from what she was doing.

"Can I help you, sir?" She was rather pretty, Link decided- cascading violet locks, eyes like wet ink, a tender little mouth... but she was no Zelda.

"Yes," Link said, leaning onto the counter a little. "Are there any rooms free? I'd like to rent one... two, if possible."

"Yes sir, we have several rooms free. What size are you looking for?"

"Smallest but nicest... feather beds, if any have them. If we'll have to share for that, make it a big room."

"Alright, and how long were you looking to stay here?"

"About a month. We also have horses we'll need to board in your stable."

"Alright," murmured the woman, looking down at the thick tome filled with occupancies, though a small crease had formed between her brows. After flipping through a few pages, she looked up with a smile. "That should be just fine, sir. Two small rooms with featherbeds for three months, with stable and fodder for animals. Under what names would you like this signed?"

This was the part he'd been waiting for, though he never would have admitted it to anyone. "Sign them under Link, if you would," he said, and had Valin been there, he would have detected the slightest bit of relish in the adventurer's voice. The woman's eyes went wide.

"Link? _The_ Link?"

"The one and only," Link replied with a smile. The woman began to smile as well.

"I'm Kafine's sister, Anjulina. I heard about what you did for us, and really, thank you so much. We'll board your horses for free, and your breakfasts will be on us each morning, sir, out of thanks. We'll also give you these rooms at a discounted rate- say, forty rupees a week for the pair of them?"

"That would be wonderful, Anjulina," Link told her warmly. "Also, my companion's name is Valin, so he doesn't have to go everywhere attached to me. Thank you so much for taking care of us."

Anjulina looked nearly frantic with pleasure, dark eyes wide and thrilled. "Of course, sir. Take your horses on around to the stable and we'll see they're well taken care of."

"Of course. Thank you, Anjulina." Link smiled and (for the fun of it) winked at Anjulina, took the keys she handed him, then turned and went outside, where Valin and the horses waited in the pouring rain.

"Did you get it?" Valin asked, looking thoroughly soaked and thoroughly in need of a thorough drying and a thorough meal.

"Got it. Forty a week for two small rooms with featherbeds, free breakfast, and free board for the horses."

Valin whistled low in his throat. "You must've pulled off some feat."

At this, Link grinned. "Let's just say they owe me a favor or two."

The men took their horses around to the back of the inn, where the stable was, and handed the bridles over to a stableboy who took charge of the horses with reverence. From the looks of the other horses in the stalls, most were pack horses, the kind used to haul caravans, which was unsurprising; The Singing Kettle was in a part of town that, while it wasn't poor, wasn't the sort of place men with very fine horses indeed would go.

The two adventurers slung their saddle bags (and just plain bags) over their shoulders and ventured indoors, where they took a back staircase that ran between the kitchen and the tavern up into where the rooms were located. Quickly, they found their rooms (right across the hall from each other) and each went his own way. Link changed quickly into dry town clothes, shaved, and combed his hair, while Valin (presumably) did the same. As the adventurer locked his precious things in the small chest that was bolted to the floor and provided for such things, a knock resounded at the door.

"Hang on," said the adventurer, even as he tucked a dagger into his boot. When he went to the door, it was Valin, looking clean and happy.

"What now?" Valin asked with a grin as Link grabbed his wallet and ducked out of the room, locking the door behind him. "Celebrate or celebrate?"

"Celebrate," replied Link nonchalantly, and, eagerness for food and drink putting an extra bounce in their steps, the two adventurers proceeded down to the Tavern.

**-----------Hyrule: The Grand Arena, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Seven years and eight weeks since Ganondorf's defeat**

The Queen of Hyrule neatly executed a backflip and pressed the tip of her sword to her opponent's neck.

"Defeated," she proclaimed loudly, and, the Prince Vagan noticed she didn't even seem out of breath, whereas he was panting. Where had the woman learned to fight?!

"I cede my defeat," Vagan responded wryly, taking a step back and holding up his hands. Then, to show he meant no ill will, he bowed to her, then smiled charmingly. The spectators clapped, and Zelda did a quick curtsy to her people, then held out her gloved hand to Vagan.

"Truly, highness, your skills are without compare," Vagan complimented her as he shook her hand. "It is a wonder that the best swordsman in a country should be its queen."

"As I feel it should be," Zelda replied with a sweet smile. "After the great catastrophe that befell my people so many years ago, I feel that a ruler is not apt to protect her people if she is not apt to protect herself, as I was unable to."

"Well spoken," stated Vagan amiably. "Well spoken indeed."

He paused for a moment to run a discreet eye over the Queen's form. She truly was a force to reckon with, he thought to himself- for all that her skin was creamy and pale or her golden brown hair had been pulled into an immaculate bun for the occasion, she moved with efficiency and deadly grace. She'd bested him, and though she wore trousers and a tunic, he had no doubt that she could do it again in formal wear. Indeed, it seemed almost as though she hadn't even broken a sweat! He wondered who had trained her so thoroughly in swordsmanship, and then shivered- it was not swordsmanship the Queen was apt at, but all forms of combat.

As the Queen moved to be congratulated by her friends (the Queen's Maid, Malon Lolonaa, and the Queen's Assistant, Tetra Oceani) Vagan couldn't help but nod to himself approvingly. One thing was for certain, the Prince thought to himself. Whoever could beat _that_ hellcat would more than earn the crown of the country.

**----------Termina: Stock Pot Inn, Clock Town**

**-----------Seven years and three months since Ganondorf's defeat**

"Did I ever tell you about the time I nearly died?" Link asked Valin as he gazed out above the rooftops at the distant white-capped peaks of Snowhead.

"Which one?" Valin asked vaguely as he scoped out the women walking on the streets below. The two adventurers were sitting on the rooftop of the Stock Pot Inn; one was, apparently, reminiscing, whilst the other was lamenting the length of time it had been since he'd had a woman in his bed.

"Just after I first left Hyrule, on Snowhead, not long after I'd crossed to it from Snowpeak."

"Mmmmm... nope," replied Valin, admiring one particularly leggy woman walking past. One great thing about Termina, he thought to himself, was how so many of the women wore shorter dresses. It was wonderful.

"I got caught out in a blizzard. I ran into a wall and hit my head and fell unconscious. Luckily, the wall I hit was a cabin, and the owner heard the noise and was able to come out and rescue me."

"That was lucky," commented Valin, turning his gaze from the street to Link. "Too lucky, almost."

"I know," replied Link, eyes now cast skyward to where the moon glimmered far above. "I've been much more cautious since then."

Valin, having seen Link execute far more than his fair share of insane stunts, wisely refrained from comment and instead looked back to the street and the women that walked up and down it. They were quiet for a while, and Valin began to mentally score each woman he saw in terms of body, walk, dress, and (of course) whether or not she was single, that he could tell.

"Sometimes I've thought it wouldn't be so terrible if I died," mused Link, and this caused Valin's attention to snap up from the redhead he was contemplating. His eyes narrowed on his friend in concern, and he sat up.

"What makes you think that?"

Link sighed and laid back on the roof, head pillowed on his arms, which were crossed behind him. "I don't know," he sighed, closing his eyes. Then, after a moment: "well, actually, I do know. I grew up in Hyrule- the people there meant everything to me. But after the war, so much changed, and I couldn't stay..." Link was quiet a while longer, and Valin was considering whether or not he should go back to woman-watching when Link spoke again. "All of the conquests I've made in my adventures have been in the spirit of Hyrule. I am a Hylian. But I can't go back there- I left because there was too much pain in that country for me to bear. I don't want to go back," he emphasized. "But I promised someone I would, and as much as it kills me..."

"Link," Valin said, clapping his fellow adventurer and closest friend in the world firmly on the shoulder, "I'm Hylian, and I left because I was disgusted with the whole system. The war happened because the Queen couldn't rule- she was inexperienced and was blocked at every decision she tried to make by her council, and that only got worse after the war ended. But I'm going back because I want to help change the country. You can do that, too. Hyrule may be rebuilt, but it certainly isn't healed. This is our opportunity to right the wrongs in the government and in the lives of the people."

"Mmm," replied Link apathetically. After a moment of contemplation, he cracked his eyes and looked over at Valin. "What do you mean about the whole 'corrupt system' thing?"

"You didn't hear about it? I thought everyone involved in the war had, not to mention that it came out only a little more than three years after the war ended."

"What was it?" Link asked, now openly curious. He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked over at Valin with a questioning gaze, though there was something hard behind his eyes. "I wasn't part of the war, and I left not long after it ended."

Valin, wisely, chose not to argue and claim that Link was obviously the hero of the country. "Well, for a very long time, the power of the monarchy was offset by a council of the richest and thus most powerful men in Hyrule- dukes, earls, and the like. They're supposed to represent local interests of the areas they hail from, but so many of them turn up their noses at the social problems within their holdings that they're pretty much ineffective. This last session of dukes has been the worst- always bickering and arguing, and never over anything important. The Queen tried to rouse arms to fight against Zant's invasion, but they argued until it was too late. After the war, they all blamed the Queen for what had happened, and tried to take her power from her. She tried to compromise for about three years before she snapped and reclaimed what was rightfully hers and took the power back from the council."

"I see," murmured Link. In truth, he'd known about the council- a bit. He'd heard Zelda complaining from time to time, and on more than one occasion she'd found him at odd hours of the day, politely requested for him to help her with her weapons training, and proceeded to unleash all her fury in combat. He hadn't suspected the depth of the problem, though.

"I'd left Hyrule and was far away by the time I got the news about what the Queen had done. It's brilliant, really- she has the council meet without her, and they present their decisions to her when they've agreed upon them, which is rarely, so she doesn't waste time- and if she dislikes a course of action they've proposed, she vetoes it. To address local problems, she allowed people to come to the castle with their complaints. Too many people flooded in, though, so she had the people take their problems to the mayors, and if the mayors couldn't get those problems resolved they would be sent to the Queen herself."

"And she has direct control over the army?" Link asked curiously, recalling the boisterous, belligerent soldiers who would question orders and rank.

"She got them whipped into shape, I've heard, though I don't know how. Hyrule still has its problems, but... I'm ashamed of leaving the country like I did. Deserting, to be a little more accurate. So now I want to go back. I think I can help," Valin added dreamily. Glancing at Link sideways out of the corners of his eyes, he added a merry, "and so, I believe, can you."

"Me?" Link asked skeptically. "I'm just one man. What can just one man do?"

"Lots," replied Valin. "You heard that it was really just one man who saved Hyrule and ended the war, right?"

Aha! Link had gone tense.

"I'd heard rumors, but dismissed them as impossible," Link replied airily. "I've seen and done a lot and I know that no man can do something like that by himself."

Was there something behind his voice? Regret? Sorrow? Valin couldn't tell, but he was curious, and damn it, he intended to find out! But not today... he'd pushed Link enough already, he decided, and thus he went back to scoping out the women.

"I think I'm going to go find me a lady tonight," Valin proposed, lecherous gaze tailing a voluptuous brunette down the street. "It's been too long. You should get one too, Link."

"Maybe," Link replied ambiguously. He'd shut his eyes again and laid back on the roof. Valin briefly glanced over at his friend and then sighed. There were many layers, it seemed, to the man, and he could only guess at what laid beneath the adventure roughened surface.

* * *

Uploaded: 15:05 Central Daylight Time, Wednesday June 27, 2007 


	5. Hope Reborn

**A/N: Thank you for all your reviews, and keep them coming! I meant to say earlier (as in, at the beginning) that this story wouldn't have happened without the help of CrazygurlMadness and BabyKoalaPrincess. Thank you so much to you both!!**

**-----------Hyrule: Queen's Office, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Seven years and three months since Ganondorf's defeat**

"Alyz, I'm of a mind to have a gala," the Queen said to her good friend and head of affairs. Alyz was one of the members of Zelda's trusted panel of impartial advisors, and he was a blessing to have, truly- he had a very useful network of people assembled about the country that reported to him on every detail that happened- from parties to terrible storms to murders, and that which Alyz deemed important enough he reported to the Queen, and advised her in her course of action. However, Alyz had another job as head of affairs that many in Hyrule envied- he personally coordinated many of the events held in honor of the Queen.

At the Queen's words, the man looked up from the book he was perusing and smiled at her. He was charming in an unkempt sort of way- messy black hair, big brown eyes, glasses, and (more often than not) rumpled clothing. The reason for his state of disarray was not overwork (though the Queen often worried over it anyhow) but his love of books, which he often stayed up late reading.

"A gala would be splendid," Alyz agreed. "The Palace has been quiet and empty for far too long."

"It has been a lazy sort of year thus far," noted Zelda. "Not much has happened... bless the Goddesses," she added, signing the holy triangle over herself. "I am gladdened by our lack of troubles, but it would be nice to have a social event of some sort to stir up a little excitement within the country."

The little man scratched his head. "I would be up to coordinating a gala," mused Alyz. "Did you have a date in mind? A theme, perhaps?"

"Three months hence, I was thinking," replied Zelda. "As for a theme... it doesn't matter. I'll leave that up to your discretion. You always plan the most excellent galas," the Queen added with a disarming smile. Alyz flushed red to the tips of his pointed ears and shut the book he was holding with a slight thump.

"Well, Highness, I'l see what I can do. Do you have any certain dates you prefer?"

"I know that as far as plans go, I have nothing the first week of the month of fire. Sometime within that time frame, if at all possible."

"Several days long?" asked Alyz. He'd pulled a quill and scroll from nowhere and was hastily scratching away.

"Preferably, with both day and evening activities."

"Exclusive invitation list?"

"For the evening events, each member of the gentry may bring a single guest. Day events should be open to the people- the people love a good tournament just as much as the gentry do."

"Typical guest housing?"

"Yes, in the palace, of course… first come first serve," Zelda agreed. Alyz nodded and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he wrote something else.

"That should be enough to start with," he said in satisfaction. "I'll get back to you in a few days with the rough plan."

Zelda smiled again and stood, taking Alyz's hand in both of her own. "You really are a Goddess-send, Alyz," she told him warmly. "I do not know where I would be without you."

"You'd still be the best Queen this country has ever had," Alyz told her simply. Then he smiled and bowed, sensing his dismissal. "Have a good day, Highness."

"Good day, Alyz," she responded kindly, and then nodded as he left the room. She sat roughly back down in her chair and looked at the mountain of paperwork before her. She contemplated doing it for a moment, but, with a sigh, decided it could wait. Zelda gazed longingly out the window, letting her mind drift.

Yes, a gala would be wonderful, and the people needed something to do, but that wasn't why she'd asked Alyz. She'd had a dream the night before, which had been startling in its clarity- it was almost as though it were a memory or a premonition, but Zelda simply knew it could be neither. For, after all, Link had been in it, and she was almost entirely certain Link was dead. He hadn't come back, though he'd promised he would, and what would prompt Link to break a promise but for death itself?

Still, she thought, wrapping her arms around her and closing her eyes, tilting her head into the sunshine streaming in through the window, it had been such a wonderful dream. She'd been dancing with Link in the ballroom, which had been decorated most lavishly. They'd spun together under the golden chandeliers, and then Link had leaned in close to whisper something in her ear...

But then she'd woken up, of course. Frustrated, Zelda pulled herself from her dream memory and forced herself to pick up the quill and start her paperwork.

Work first. Then she could play. Then she could dream. But not until she'd done her duties for the day.

**-----------Hyrule: Snowpeak Ruins, Snowpeak**

**-----------Seven years and five months since Ganondorf's defeat**

"Yeta! Yeto and Yeta's family has visitors!" Called Yeto the yeti.

"Visitors!" called Yeta happily, and she toddled outside bearing a small bundle in her arms. "Visitors, uh! Yeta is so happy! Who is visitors?"

"Link," said Link, stepping forward with a smile. Yeta beamed brilliantly and moved forward to give him a soft, one-armed hug.

"So long since Yeto and Yeta see you, uh! Yeta still needs to thank you for what you did for her. You saved Yeta's life," declared the yeti warmly. "Link always welcome at Snowpeak, uh."

"Good to see Link," agreed Yeto, clapping the adventurer on the back so hard he nearly toppled over. "Very good, uh. Yeta and Yeto have family now! Have baby named Yetu, uh. Boy! Will be big and strapping like Yeto!"

"I'm quite sure," agreed Link warmly, eyeing the wrapped bundle with mixed apprehension and happiness.

"Who is other human, uh?" Yeto asked Link, turning to look at Valin curiously.

"This is my friend Valin. He travels with me, and is also from Hyrule. We're coming home for a while."

"Oh! Valin! Friend of Link! Good you are here, uh!" declared Yeto, also clapping Valin on the back, who visibly staggered. Yeta smiled at Valin, and a little of his friend's tension eased, to Link's eyes.

"Valin very welcome here," Yeta informed him sweetly. Then, as though noticing the chill air and the bundled up humans, she perked up. "Oh! It cold out here! Link, Valin, come into house. Humans not so warm as yetis. Get cold, uh."

"Thank you," Valin replied genuinely, following the two proud parents (one tall and one tiny) up the long stairs to the house. Link led the horses along a ramp on the side of the house, and then in through the front doors. (It was another of many yeti quirks that the horses ought to stay in the house with the people and yetis, though it was a very welcome quirk.) "This is a lovely house," the young earl complimented the yetis. "Possibly one of the biggest ones I've ever seen. How did it come to be built all the way out here?"

"Yetis like buildings, but nature too, uh," explained Yeto. "This house old- built by yetis, always belong to yetis. Was home of Yeto father. Now home of Yeto. Will someday be home of Yetu, uh. Good house," added Yeto, thumping his chest.

"Have you ever seen the Gorons who live on the other side of the mountain- they call it Snowhead?" asked Valin. "They, too, have some amazing buildings."

"Oh, yes! Gorons very nice, uh!" chirped Yeta. "Make good stew! Teach Yeto how!"

"Oh, is that where you learned the recipe for that amazing gourmet soup?" asked Link as he came out of the side room where he'd left the horses. Yeto and Yeta had made it for the travelers that came through with pack animals from time to time- it was a horse heaven of hay, oats, and carrots.

"Yes! Gorons good teachers, uh. Yeto give them stories in return."

"The Gorons _do_ love stories," mused Valin, remembering how the friendly rock people had kept the adventures awake nigh until dawn asking them for stories of their travels.

"Yeto, Yeta," said Link, clearing his throat, "is there anything Valin and I can do to repay you for your hospitality? Any exterminations you need performed?"

"Uh," grunted Yeto as he thought. Then his glassy eyes lit up. "Yes! Annoying den of Frozen Lancers close by, in mountain! Annoy Yeto and Yeta when sledding, uh. Scare Yetu," he added darkly.

"We'll take care of them," affirmed Link with a warm smile at Yeto and Yeta. Just then, little Yetu let out a great squall.

"Yeta go take care of Yetu now, uh," Yeta stated, and disappeared off into a side room, precious bundle in tow.

"Yeto make food, uh! Link and Valin, make selves at home!" boomed Yeto, and he set off for the kitchen. Link and Valin found themselves quite alone then, standing in the great foyer of the yetis' magnificent home.

"Well," said Valin, shifting his weight from one boot to another as he looked around at the house, which was in a much better state than the last time Link had seen it. (The staircases were all complete! Joy!)

"Right. Let's see to those lancers, then have dinner. I'd like to stay here a few days," Link added. "It's going to take us a few more weeks to get back down the mountain, and I wouldn't mind sleeping in a real bed for more than one night."

"Seems like the happy family would like that," said Valin with a glance to the doors the two yetis had gone through. His fingers seemed to itch a little, and he shrugged. "Come on. Let's go do our thing."

The two adventurers left the relative warmth of the building and set off, hunting around the mountain until they found the lancers' den. They proved more pesky than difficult to eliminate, and by the time the adventurers trooped back to the ruins for a well-earned dinner, they were dripping with half-frozen snow and nursing a few irritating little scrapes.

"I despise those things," Valin grunted irritably as he stepped on one of the many lances scattered about the icy battleground with an obnoxious crunch. Valin was rather worse for the wear than Link- indeed, it seemed as though Link hadn't taken a single hit, while Valin was already lamenting how much mending it would take to repair his rather tattered overcoat.

"You just need to know how to deal with them," replied Link amiably. "The first time I was up at Snowpeak, Yeto and Yeta's home had been completely overrun by all sorts of nasty monsters. The worst of it was... hm. Actually, a lot of it was nasty at some points, but I very vividly remember battling an entire room full of those blasted Frozen Lancers."

"You're a madman," Valin stated plainly. Link shrugged one shoulder modestly, and then sighed with relief as the house came into view.

"Not so much madman as a sucker," Link told his friend. "Poor Yeta was sick and Yeto was worried about her, so I agreed to clean out the house while she got better. It was the monsters that were making her sick," he added.

"You seem pretty comfortable with them," Valin noted. "I can't help it- Yeto makes me a little uneasy."

"Me too, at first," Link admitted as they began to climb the stairs. "Don't worry too much. Yeto and Yeta are some of the nicest people... err, beings, that I've ever encountered. You don't need to be uneasy. Once you taste his cooking, you'll be fine with him, I'm sure."

"That good?"

"Better," affirmed Link, and the two adventurers pushed through the doors of the mansion.

**-----------Hyrule: Snowpeak and Zora's Domain**

**-----------Seven years and five and a half months since Ganondorf's defeat**

The adventurers had stayed at Snowpeak a few days longer, but set out after Yeto told them that he could sense a nasty snowstorm about a week off. Hurrying as though hell was at their heels, the adventurers made their way down the mountain, after (of course) thanking the yeti family profusely for their hospitality. At long last, the adventurers escaped the clutches of the ever-cold Snowpeak, and found themselves in Zora's Domain. Summer was blanketing Hyrule in warm contentment and lethargy, and Link and Valin were quite content to stay a few more days at Zora's Domain, enjoying the hospitality of the Zora King, Ralis.

"Link, Valin," Ralis said to the two adventurers kindly over dinner one night, "I take it you intend to journey fully into Hyrule soon?"

"Yes," Link replied, setting down his fish kabob. "The weather is good, and the roads are always clear at this time of year, so we'll most likely depart within the next few days."

"If you would but stay a week longer, I myself will be going to Hyrule Castle, and would be glad to have you in my entourage."

"You're too kind, Highness," deferred Valin.

"Not at all," replied Ralis with a wave of his hand. "I am going for the Queen's Gala. Lord Leonas, you are one of the gentry, are you not? You should also attend. And Link, I'm sure you'd be welcome as well."

"Gala?" the two adventurers asked at the same instant- Valin with anticipation, Link with dread. "What sort?" asked Valin with curiosity, just as Link asked, "for what reason?" At this, Ralis chuckled and held up a hand.

"The Queen is throwing a Gala for the people of Hyrule. It has been a very uneventful year, to the extent of being boring, and some of the people are restless. There is to be a ball every night for four nights, and tournaments and festivals during the day. Truly, it will be a fete beyond fetes. You both should attend."

"We'd love to!" exclaimed Valin. Link remained silent and pale, but neither the young earl nor the Zora King took note of it. "Is there a theme?"

"Only on the second to the last night- there is a costume ball," he explained. "History brought to life. There will be a vote for various costume awards, all of which will be announced on the final night. The costume that gets the most popular votes wins, and the winner will be rewarded by the Queen."

"What kind of reward?" asked Link blandly. Neither Ralis nor Valin even spared him a glance.

"Nobody knows," Valin said simply. "Right? That's how these things have always worked- the reward is always a surprise."

"Correct," affirmed Ralis. "I myself am not entirely sure what I'll go as- perhaps as the legendary God of the Zoras, Jabu Jabu."

"Link, what should I go as?" Valin asked, turning to his friend. Link was still very pale, and did not appear to be paying any attention at all to his surroundings. "Link? You alright?" Valin queried, puzzled. The adventurer stood, pulling his feet from the shallow dining pond in which they sat, and mumbled something along the lines of "nafeelinell" before beating a hasty departure.

"Ah," sighed Ralis, sitting back in the warm water. "Yes, I had quite forgotten. Link is a little sensitive about matters in which the Queen are concerned."

"He's never said anything about his life in Hyrule to me, and I've known him for several years," Valin stated. "Does the Queen have anything to do with it?"

"You are aware of who he is, or, rather, was, are you not?" The Zora King asked, picking at the seaweed salad that sat on the elaborate coral table before him.

"He was the Hero, right?"

"Correct," affirmed Ralis. "Savior of Hyrule. I was young at the time, and upset- my mother had been murdered- but Link helped to guide me into manhood, and for this, I respect and love him as I respected and loved my parents. Even given my closeness to the Hero, though, there are many details that I don't know... what I do know is that the evil lord who led the invasion against Hyrule was nothing more than a pawn for some greater, darker power, and it was against that power that Link had to battle to end the war. Something terrible happened in the process, though, as I've said, I don't know what. I believe he lost someone very, very dear to him that day, for after that he closed up, in a sense."

"And the Queen was involved?"

"Somehow. You recall the rumors that they were in love?"

Valin inhaled sharply. "You think they were true?"

"I don't know. It might explain his behavior now. He had a devastating loss, and was in love with a woman he could never wed. So he left the country..."

"And didn't come back until dragged," muttered Valin, downing a glass of wine in one swift gulp. "Would make sense, wouldn't it?"

The two were silent for a while, pondering in the silence of eating. The main dish was brought out to the two of them, and Valin picked at his fish for a few minutes before looking back up at Ralis.

"He's going to go to that ball," Valin stated with steely determination. "Even if I have to drag him by the skin of his teeth."

Ralis chuckled at this, nodding his head. "You most likely will. He can be very stubborn."

"I have blackmail," Valin replied casually. "And there are people who matter to him in Hyrule, so it would be effective."

"He has no formalwear and won't stand for a fitting," Ralis murmured thoughtfully. "Do you know his measurements?"

"His clothes are baggy on me, but only a little," Valin informed the Zora King. "I'm sure if we took some of his clothes to a tailor, they could do something."

"Yes," agreed Ralis, and then he smiled his Zora smile. It struck Valin that, for a male, Ralis was very beautiful, and he wondered that the Zora King had not yet married. But then, he turned his thoughts back to Link, and pondered for a few moments.

"What should he go to the costume ball as?"

Ralis turned his head to the side in thought, biting at his lower lip. Then, with a smile that was purely devilish, he turned back to Valin.

"Himself."

**-----------Hyrule: Guest Quarters, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Seven years, five months and four weeks since Ganondorf's defeat**

**-----------Queen's Gala: First Night**

"Link, you've _got_ to come out of there," Valin said with an irritated sigh, rapping his cane against the door of their shared bedroom, which Link had kindly barricaded shut with furniture. "It's just a ball."

"Go away, I'm sick," called Link from within, sounding hale and healthy indeed.

"I've seen you fight your way through a swamp with a raging fever. Get out here," Valin commanded.

"No!"

"You're sulking," warned Valin. "You're starting to make me think you're actually afraid of going down to that dinner."

"I'm not afraid of _anything_!" called Link defiantly from behind the door. "I am the very picture of courage!"

"You're hiding in your bedroom and you've blocked off the door with furniture. That's pretty cowardly, not to mention if you really were too sick to go to a ball, you'd be too sick to move... what is it, anyway? A desk?"

"A dresser," replied Link stubbornly. "I'm too old to go to a ball. I'm a crotchety old goat."

"There will be people three times your age there, Link. You're only twenty five."

"I'm not going!"

Valin sighed, and then leaned against the wall by the door, brushing off his nice trousers. "Ralis is going to think you ungrateful. He invited you as his particular guest and paid for you to have new clothes- and those didn't come cheap, either."

"I didn't want to come! I didn't want clothes!"

"And I didn't want to take that desert job with you back in Holodrum last year but I did and I made the best of it. Open the thrice-damned door, will you?

There was a long pause, and just as Valin was getting ready to truly be angry, the sound of shifting furniture. A few moments later, Link opened the door looking haggard, unkept, and generally gutterworthy. Valin grimaced- the legendary hero was definitely _not_ material for a ball in his current state.

"Shave that stubble, brush your teeth, and get dressed," Valin commanded imperially. "I'll fix your hair for you when you're ready."

"What are we, girls?" Link asked, though he dutifully complied. Valin shut the chamber door behind him as Link stalked off to the bathing room to groom himself, and Valin drew Link's formalwear from where it had been carefully folded and deposited within the trunk. Link came out of the bathroom and began to struggle into the clothes- leaving the hapless hero to wrangle with his buttons, Valin commenced beating the adventurer's hair into something respectable. He finally gave up and contented himself with a sort of styled unkempt, then swooped in to save Link's formalwear from being ripped.

"For once, I have my uses," commented the young earl as he settled Link's jacket properly on his shoulders. He then stepped back and admired his handiwork. "Though, I do have to say, Link. You cut a rather dashing figure in green."

"Shut up," replied the adventurer with a sulky glance into the mirror. With a long-suffering sigh, he moved towards the door, visibly steeling himself for what laid ahead. "Let's just get this damned thing over with."

Though Valin could suspect the reason why Link's behavior was so bad this particular night, he would've fallen over in shock had he known what his friend was planning for the evening ahead, and that his surliness had nothing to do with a wanting not to go, but rather, a wanting not to do the inevitable. But Valin would find out, and soon, thought Link grimly, as he thought back to his resolution of half a year ago. He was going to face his fears and hurts alright, but that didn't mean he wanted to... and he knew, in the process of confrontation he would indubitably hurt and quite possibly alienate the one person in the world that still, even after seven years, was the sole being in possession of his heart.

* * *

Uploaded: 16:15 Central Standard Time, Friday June 29, 2007 


	6. The First Night

**A/N: These scenes were the first that were ever written in this story, and it was entirely inspired by the song "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven. I don't own the song, nor do I own the lyrics, though I DID write this while listening to said song on repeat. If you've got it in your iTunes, put it on!**

**-----------Zelda: The Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: First Night**

Zelda's nerves fluttered and clamored at her for some unknown reason as she moved around the ball, greeting various people. She didn't know why she was so nervous- she really had no reason to be- and yet, she was. She took a quick peer over at a dark window, checking her dim reflection in the glass- nothing out of place on her elaborate gown, which was good news. She felt a little self-conscious in this latest of fashions, though she wouldn't ever have admitted it to anyone but Malon or Tetra- the thin, off-the-shoulder sleeves, which were really nothing more than little strips of blue fabric, the tight, smooth bodice (it was ivory embroidered in blue and was perhaps a little too flattering to her chest) and the long, voluminous skirt- ivory as well, but with that blue silk again, which was draped in a thick scrunch around her hips and let to fall to the floor in a long ribbon. She felt both overdressed and underdressed- ridiculous, really, and as she pulled at her long gloves she had to remind herself that she was, in fact, the Queen, and that she was the standard other women were supposed to live up to, not the other way around. But still.

The herald trumpeted a late arrival of some earl and his guest, and, shortly afterwards, the Zora King Ralis. Zelda warmed with pleasure that her friend had come, and moved towards the entrance of the ballroom, pausing to accept a compliment from a young duchess over her hair (styled up and curled, it had taken painful hours but the end product was rather flattering) before craning her head over the crowd to look for the Zora. As her gaze swept the crowd, she recognized someone familiar...

...too familiar...

Her stomach dropped as her gaze centered in and all thoughts of finding Ralis flew from her mind, thoroughly obliterated. Her heart began to beat rapidly and her breathing quickened... there was no way. It simply couldn't be possible.

And then he looked up and she knew that for all the impossibilities, it was the truth.

Time seemed to stop as chilly ice blue eyes met usually composed aquamarine. Zelda couldn't help it- her jaw dropped as she saw the Hero she'd dreamt of for so long, ever since that awful day they'd parted... she'd thought him dead! But no, he was quite obviously alive and well and time had, if possible, made the previously devastating man even more handsome- her eyes quickly swept over him. Had his shoulders always been so broad? Had he always had such amazing muscles? Had his face always been so strongly defined, had his mouth always had that annoying little upward quirk? He was smirking at her, she knew, laughing at her stare but she couldn't help it. Colossus, it wasn't as though she hadn't fantasized about him ever since she'd met him, even moreso since they'd parted. But- Goddesses! His formalwear fit him like a glove- a rather finely sculpted glove, to be honest- and it was a miracle that the Queen of Hyrule didn't just run and disgrace herself in front of all her nobles right then and there.

_Oh, Goddesses! He's coming this way!_

Had his walk always been so self-assured? His stride so entrancing? So powerful? He moved through the crowd with grace, and Zelda envied him his composure as he took her in, unimpressed. At last, he'd cleared past the last reveler and stood before Zelda. Excitement welled within her, and mentally she scolded herself, commanding herself to keep her composure. It wasn't working.

Oh, how she'd longed for this moment.

"Adventurer," she addressed him, heart fluttering in her throat, though she kept her cool as best as she could, "you have returned."

"Highness," he replied, kneeling before her. "It is an honor to be in your presence." The words were cold, oddly formal. What was wrong with him, Zelda wondered? Hadn't he missed her as much as she had missed him? Certainly he had... right?

"It warms my heart to see you home. What has at last called you back to Hyrule, Hero?" she asked him quietly in an effort to extract some emotion other than coolness and- dare she say?- contempt. She motioned for him to stand and he did so.

As he straightened, Zelda couldn't help but ogle the effortless motions of his sleek, toned muscles. "I have long ventured elsewhere," Link informed her simply. "All across the four corners of every map in the Goddesses' creation. In my more recent adventures, I wound up companions with a certain young earl, Lord Leonas, who insisted I return to Hyrule with him for a while. Having aught better to do with my time, I agreed."

Her heart sank. "Such a simple reason to return to your home, Hero. You save this land, and her people are still greatly indebted to you. Have you not returned to your friends and family?" And love, she yearned to say, but refrained. Such talk was in the past, and she feared more and more by the moment that such feelings were in the past as well.

"I have saved many lands and many people," Link said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Truly, I come at my companion's insistence and for my own distraction- sword swinging can be tiring, and I need a break. No allegiances or ties pulled me back here, Highness." There was a defiance in his words that made Zelda ache on the inside- truly, then, he had forgotten her, as well as his promise.

Her throat was tight as she tried to speak. "What a shame," she managed, keeping her voice light as best she could, "that you should not come home to this land for love of it. Many here have missed you; it would be a grievous insult to inform them you have not returned for longing of them."

"Then I shall be certain to mince my words," Link replied without show of humor of any sort. Zelda nearly recoiled from the force of his disdain- Goddesses! She wanted to slap him, or kiss him, or both, but no, she could do neither, not in a room this crowded, and she would not lower herself to insults. Threats, on the other hand...

"I know not where your allegiances lie," she said coldly, dropping pleasantry with Link, "but for that they used to lie with this country, and because of this, you are welcome at my court for the services you have done for my kingdom. Keep in mind though, Adventurer, that this is my land and, as Queen, I am due respect- if you make trouble and disturb the peace I have worked for, I will have you exiled from my kingdom."

"Are you threatening me?" His words were cold and the contempt was open on his face- he stepped up to stand nearly chest-to-chest with her, a horrible breach of protocol. Her heart was thudding and she was certain that some of her subjects would see, certainly, and talk, without question...

But she was so damned angry! She stood tall against him, glared up into his face with all the icy regality she could summon. "Not threatening, Adventurer," she informed him stonily. "Promising."

"I'll hold you to it," he replied with a low murmur, and, with one last smirk, he stepped back and bowed briskly with such sarcasm as to completely defile the deferential motion. "Good evening, Highness." He took Zelda's left hand in his and kissed it, causing Zelda to react in mental disgust yet physical longing. Electricity tingled up her veins, making her even more jittery than she was already. Link dropped her hand suddenly and stood, then, and without waiting for her dismissal, he departed, suddenly and speedily. Zelda remained where she was, shocked, fuming, and absolutely _furious_. How dare he? How dare he?!

"Majesty?" came the voice of Malon, and Zelda turned, doing her best not to furiously stomp away.

"Insubordinate, disrespectful pig," Zelda replied in a low, angry voice to her dearest friend, and took Malon by the elbow, then made herself smile pleasantly, as though nothing were wrong. "Come, Malon. We have much planning to do."

"With all due respect, Majesty, what do we plan?"

"I'm going to make him suffer," Zelda replied, uncharacteristically vehement and malicious, though she smiled prettily, and even laughed merrily, as though there were no problems in the world. "He loved me once, he'll love me again, but he won't like it- oh no. Come, Malon. This party tires me."

"Yes, Majesty," replied Malon, bewildered, as the Queen of the country led her away to the gardens for some Grade A conspiring.

_I'm not paralyzed_

_But, I seem to be struck by you_

_I want to make you move_

_Because you're standing still_

_If your body matches_

_What your eyes can do_

_You'll probably move right through_

_Me on my way to you _

**-----------Link: The Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: First Night**

"Why Link, I wasn't aware you knew the princess. Mighty bit of insubordination there, you know," Valin said to Link as the adventurer returned to his friend by the punch bowl. "The Queen's not one to mess with. Iron fist, that one."

"Oh really," Link replied, watching with a raised brow as Zelda took the arm of a pretty redhead, seemingly without a care in the world, and left the ballroom for the garden, chattering with her friend. "How did she ever explain away that little boo-boo with the monsters a few years ago? That was quite the war, if I remember correctly."

"She didn't, remember?" Valin reminded his friend, moving to stand beside his fellow 'wandering vagrant.' "There was that problem with the council. Of course, the precipitation of the Zant business started when her father was on the throne, and the Queen got it cleared up, and she's ruling strong now. Things in Hyrule are great, from what I hear- she's fair, but tough. Quite the heartbreaker, too, according to rumor."

"How remarkable," Link murmured, trying to seem disinterested. In truth, watching her walk out of the ballroom and away from him was the hardest thing to do since leaving her all those years ago- he was back, he'd come within mere inches of her, bandied words with her, touched her, kissed her hand even- but he'd challenged her to a little game, and she'd accepted. They'd fight each other, battle for victory over the other with words and wit, and Link vowed this was a battle he would not lose. He thought of Valin's most recent comment, and wondered aloud. "Heartbreaker, you say?"

"Yes," his friend affirmed. "I've heard she's been proposed to many, many times, but she vows she will marry no man who can't hold his own in a battle against her. Of course, she looks like a sweet, innocent little thing," Valin comment, "but she fights like a wildcat, furious, fast and strong. None have yet bested her, though not for lack of trying."

"Ah, yes, always was a wildcat, that one," Link mused with a low chuckle, thinking back to the many times they'd fought each other, the times he'd trained her, the things they'd taught each other, her sheer strength, despite her size. Only once had she bested him, but many other times she'd come close. "Tell me, Valin," Link said with a canine grin, turning to his friend and speaking low in his ear. "Might a commoner best the Queen, and have her for his bride?"

Valin glanced at his friend in alarm. "Link, don't tell me you're thinking of making her another one of your trophies. You don't have anything to prove."

"Not at all," Link replied, indicating to Valin that they should begin walking outside to the gardens as well. "I simply have a very interesting story to relate to you, and a means of completing said story satisfactoraily..." a glance at Valin told Link his friend remained unconvinced. "Simply put, the Queen and I have a long-standing competition going on between the two of us, and it would be interesting if I could beat her out and achieve certain unspoken rewards in the process." Another glance. Still suspicious. Link sighed.

"I'll tell you how I came by my abilities as swordsman, as the Queen is very closely tied into my origins."

"Now I'm listening," Valin replied, excited, for he had long pestered the great adventurer for his past, without success.

"You see," Link said to Valin as they walked out into the courtyard, "I actually used to be a goat herder..."

**-----------Malon: The Courtyard and The Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: First Night**

"So that's the reason why you declared that you'd marry no man who couldn't beat you in combat?" Malon asked Zelda, wide eyed, as they spoke quietly behind a rose plant. "Because you knew the only one who could do it was Link?"

"Not so loud, Malon," replied Zelda in a terse whisper. "It was one of the reasons... alright, the main reason, to be honest. But you saw how he acted. He doesn't care about me anymore! We have to fix it somehow."

"A love potion?" Malon asked with the slightest of giggles. "I'm sure you could bribe one of the magicians to make you one."

"Pooh, I could make it myself but I don't think it would work on him. He's under the protection of the Goddesses, same as I am. It wouldn't be worth it to even bother trying. No, I'm going to have to win him over by other means... though how, I don't know."

"Well, there's always with looks," Malon noted, eyeing the Queen's figure. Zelda glanced cautiously at her friend, a little worried at Malon's contemplative expression.

"What are you planning?"

"Just something to set off your appearances a little more tomorrow night. No offense, Highness, but you dress very conservatively."

"Conservatively?" asked Zelda in surprise, looking down at her gown. "This dress shows my shoulders AND a little bit of cleavage! It's almost scandalous!"

Malon shook her head, simply making little tsk noises with her tongue. "No, Highness, it's quite modest. Have you not been looking about at the other womens' dresses?"

"Not really..." admitted Zelda simply. "I'm a little... distracted."

"Within reason," agreed Malon. "Come on, let's get you back to the ball. You need to dance the night away and smile and laugh like there's nothing wrong, and tomorrow we'll get to work on revenge."

"Of course," replied Zelda, and she allowed her friend to escort her back into the ball. Once inside, Malon vanished from Zelda's arm, and the Queen of Hyrule found herself quite alone. The first man to come up to her and ask her to dance (some foreign dignitary) was awarded with an immediate "yes" and the Queen of Hyrule was swept out onto the dance floor.

Malon, in the meantime, had bumped into Valin just as the adventurer had released Link into the streaming mass of people in the ball. The redhead paused, sizing up the tall, broad-shouldered man as he pushed the blonde hero into the crowd, and then immediately blushed when he turned and caught her eyes. He was very handsome, Malon couldn't help but think- he had warm brown eyes and shortish brown hair that had been combed neatly back away from his face. His skin was pleasantly tanned, and though he was not quite so tall nor so broad as his friend, Malon couldn't help but think that he was rather more handsome. As he approached her, she had to remind herself that he was the friend of the enemy- it was a war between Zelda and Link and Malon would be consorting with the other side.

"My lady," said the handsome man, bowing before her. He took her hand in his and gently pressed his lips to the back of it, and Malon felt her heart flutter.

Oh, dear...

"My lord," she replied, taking her hand back and curtseying. "It is good of you to come to this Gala. I am afraid I do not recognize you..."

"Lord Valin Leonas, Earl of Lakewood," Valin said grandly.

"Lord Leonas," Malon replied charmingly. "I am the Malon Lolon, daughter of the Marquis Talon Lolon and Lady-In-Waiting to the Queen."

"Lolon? Your father breeds excellent horses," Valin said with a grin. "Second to none in Hyrule."

"It warms me to hear it." Not just warmed- Malon was flushed with pride. But it was a ruse! It had to be! She couldn't talk to this gentleman. He was on the other team.

As though sensing her thoughts, Valin cleared his throat. "Miss Lolon, would you be so kind as to favor me with a dance? I have something very interesting to talk to you about."

"I suppose," replied Malon with a little hesitation as the music struck up. Then, with a disarming smile, she extended her hand. "Very well. Of what would you like to speak?" she asked as Valin led her out onto the dance floor. They assumed the position and began to move through the simple, demure steps, barely touching each other, as the dance called for.

"I take it you know of the history between my friend and your friend?" Valin asked her airily.

"I do," replied Malon, eyes guarded. "And I feel that your friend has done my friend several very great wrongs."

"As do I," agreed Valin lightly. "The man's got a head thicker than iron. I do believe he intends to go into battle against your friend- both with blades and with words. He's going to try to dominate her heart, only, I'm not entirely certain that that's how love works."

"Interesting," stated Malon simply. "Go on."

"I know that my friend is still in love with your friend, and I think your friend feels the same," postulated Valin. "But if your friend is anything like my friend, she's stubborn and pigheaded as well and won't see reason. My idea is for us to give the two of them a little help, because they'll never come around to things otherwise."

"So what is it exactly that you're proposing?" Malon asked as she and Valin switched hands again and again. "Enlighten me."

"You have to promise I can trust you, first. I don't want you running back to your friend."

"I want to see her happy," insisted Malon. "Even if it means I'll have to go behind her back a little. I promise I'm trustworthy- and you?"

"I am the same. You can trust me," Valin stated, and at the lowness of his voice at these last words, Malon felt little shivers go down her back.

"So what's your plan?"

"Throw them together. Little things. Dropping comments and hints... I'm sure the Zora King Ralis would be more than happy to help out as well."

"Perhaps, then, it should be known that my friend has made it a practice to keep her mind and reflexes hones," Malon told Valin. "Each morning at dawn, she practices in the arena with her weapons."

"You know, it's odd," mused Valin. "I do believe my friend was of the notion to do the exact same thing. He intends to beat your friend on every turf she has," he added.

"He may best her in the arena," acknowledged Malon, "but I doubt that he'll outdo her when it comes to the nuances of palace life and social graces."

"We'll see," stated Valin. "This could prove to be entertaining. Miss Lolone, I don't suppose you're a gambling woman?"

"I've never taken a wager in my life," replied Malon lightly. "But I might be willing to make an exception. What sort of stakes were you thinking of?"

"I'll let you set the stakes," Valin told her as the dance ended. Malon curtsied, Valin bowed, and kissed the back of her hand one last time. "I'll come and find you tomorrow, and we'll plan further."

"The arena in the morning," Malon told him. He smiled, and bowed once more.

"Good evening, Miss Lolone."

"Good evening, Lord Leonas."

Watching him walk away and feeling rather warm as she admired the figure he cut, Malon couldn't help but think that it would be a very interesting week or so within the palace. First Zelda and Link, and now herself and Valin. The Goddesses were truly having a grand time making matches this evening.

* * *

Uploaded: 16:15 Central Standard Time, Friday June 29, 2007 


	7. The Second Day

**A/N: Well, here's the next installment. Please, enjoy! As always, feel free to review. Your constructive criticism is always appreciated!**

**-----------Zelda: The Training Arena, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Second Morning**

Zelda rose early the next morning after a night of restlessness and dressed in simple trousers, tunic, and boots, braided her hair into a high bun and moved, silent as a ghost, from her chambers in the castle. Hardly anyone was awake so early, and in a few blessed, silent minutes, Zelda had made her way to the empty training arena. Rosy light was streaming in and the sun was peering shyly over the horizon as Zelda selected a weapon and began to warm up. She went through her paces- slowly, at first, then faster and faster until the blade of her sword was a silver blur in the dawning light. She finished her first set and paused in her exercises to roll out her neck and shoulders, which were still tense from the night before, but turned abruptly, weapon held at the ready, when she heard clapping coming from the far side of the arena.

"You've improved," said Link, who had been watching impassively for some time, leaning against the wall of the weaponry. Zelda felt her temper flare- a usually uncommon occurrence, but in Link's case she was willing to make an exception- and, irritated, she turned away from him and went back to her practice. She was stopped a moment later when Link's blade blocked her own- but she hadn't heard or seen him move! He'd simply been there all of a sudden, standing before her, eyes glittering as he told her, "fight me."

"No," said Zelda forcefully, circling her blade free from his.

"Fight me," he insisted again, lunging towards her.

"No," replied Zelda, ducking and rolling out of the way of Link's blade.

"Fight me like you'd fight one of your suitors," demanded Link, trapping Zelda's blade under his boot.

"No," she replied, neatly sweeping his legs out from under him. She grabbed her sword and made to leave when the cold prickle of the tip of Link's blade against the back of her bare neck stopped her.

"Why won't you fight me?"

"What are you trying to prove, Link? That the Queen of Hyrule _can_ be beaten in battle? I know it, my people know it. That you're better than me at fighting? I know that, too," stated Zelda in exasperation as Link circled around to stand in front of her, blade of his sword pressing oh so lightly against her neck.

"I want to see how good you've gotten. Why won't you fight me? Scared?"

"Never. You have no license to judge me, and I don't fear you," she replied calmly, chin raised defiantly. "I won't fight you because if I did, I wouldn't be able to keep from killing you, given the opportunity."

"Tsk, tsk," murmured Link, shaking his head with an arrogant smirk. "Have your feelings towards me changed so drastically so quickly? Why, only last night you were thrilled to see me... I could read it in your eyes... ouch!" Link recoiled as the force of Zelda's slap rocked his body backwards. She whipped her sword around quick as silver lightning to strike, but Link caught it with his own and parried, and the two were off in a clang of steel, flash of light and a whirl of painful emotions.

As light broke more and more over the arena and the sound of battle carried across the training ground, spectators began to gather, one by one, to watch. Never had they seen the Queen so well matched in an opponent; the two bodies moved together, almost as one in battle. They preempted each other's moves with perfect timing and grace and flowed fluidly from position to position; their war was visual poetry worthy of immortalizing with oils and canvas.

"Why are you here, Link?" demanded Zelda furiously as she feinted, struck, parried, and spun. "You don't want to be in Hyrule, and it's clear you have less than friendly emotions towards me, so why seek me out? Do you receive some sick pleasure from tormenting people who once cared for you?"

"You cared? I'm touched," sneered Link. "You probably only cared once I was gone."

"That's a lie and you know it. You knew I cared for you."

"You cared for the marking on the back of my hand," stated Link. "You cared that I was one that could share your burden. Had I not saved Hyrule, you'd not have cared for me."

"I care for all my subjects," Zelda spat, striking Link's blade so hard with her own that he had to take a step back to regain his balance and shield his face from sparks. "Even had you not saved Hyrule, had I simply met you, I would have cared. Your vanity and pride cloud your eyes."

"And now you care no longer," he sighed. "Shame on me, for I have offended _your_ vanity," noted Link wryly.

"You're an arrogant, egotistical, vagrant pig of a man and you've been nothing but trouble for me since you returned. It's been less than twelve hours and already I am quite certain that wherever you go you will only bring misery to those around you." Strike, parry, strike. "Each of your actions carries an evident design to hurt and offend, and such behavior is not only intolerable but inexcusable."

"You're jealous," stated Link with an obnoxious grin. "You're jealous that I can say whatever I want and you can't do a single thing to stop me, but you have to censor all your thoughts and speeches to please your people."

"Damn it, what's your problem?" Zelda finally shouted as she felt the last of her restraint snap. "Have you forgotten the basics of courtesy?"

"I prefer honesty, honestly," replied Link, and in a smooth sweep he disarmed Zelda. Always one to turn a disadvantage into an advantage, the Queen of Hyrule ducked away from the finishing sweep of Link's blade, rolled behind him, and caught his arms, pinning them to his back. With a clatter, he, too, dropped his sword.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you that if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it?" Zelda asked him, jerking his arms in a way that she knew was most painful. Link winced.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to play nice?" he asked her in return, and hooked his leg backwards between hers and knocked her off balance. She dragged him down, not relinquishing her hold on him, but now he was on top and had the advantage. Her grip had shifted just so and he was able to pry his arms free- he rolled over and pinned her underneath him, arms above her head. Anger and hate simmered in her eyes as she looked up at him, and the onlookers were all silent.

"Looks like they're arguing about something," whispered Malon to Valin from where they hid behind a tree, watching. "I don't think I've ever seen the Queen that angry."

"Emotion is good. It gives rise to other emotions," Valin whispered back. "Let's see what happens."

Zelda's chest was heaving as she sucked in as much air as she could, though it was difficult with Link atop her. "So now you presumably have me where you want me- defenseless beneath you, oh grandest of Heroes," she spat.

"You've gotten better," Link said to her. "I'm almost winded."

"You're sweating and I can see your pulse in your throat," jeered Zelda.

"Thrill of the fight," he replied with a shrug.

"Let me up," demanded Zelda, disgusted.

"No."

"Let me up, now."

"No."

"You're disobeying orders from the reigning monarch of the country you're in. I could have you locked up for this."

"Ah, but you won't," replied Link, dipping his head closer to hers. "You couldn't bear to lock away the hero of the land, and when people found out, they'd rebel."

"Perhaps not," Zelda said with a shrug. She took a few deep gulps of air, shutting her eyes and trying to ignore the rapid pounding of her heart that she was beginning to suspect had nothing to do with the battle she'd just entered into, much to her dismay.

"Say I win," demanded Link, blue eyes now alight like fire.

"What makes you think you've won?" Zelda asked him.

"You can't move or strike. You're at my mercy. I've won."

"You're forgetting something," Zelda sing-songed.

Link quirked a brow, and for a moment Zelda was actually attracted to him. Then she remembered him for the pig he was. "And that is?"

"Your hands are sweaty," Zelda replied, and before Link could react she'd slid one of her hands free of his grip and punched him in the stomach. He fell back with a noisy "oof" and Zelda was up in a second, Link's blade in hand. She pointed it at him as he made to stand, pressing the tip against his neck.

"I win," she stated obnoxiously.

"Oh really?" asked Link, looking up at her in a leisurely and obnoxious manner. "You've got my sword and it would appear you've got the advantage, wouldn't it?"

"You're too calm," noted Zelda defensively, and she jumped just as he made to sweep her legs out from under her. In the brief instant the blade was removed from his neck he shot up like a rocket and caught her up against him, her arms pinned behind her like his had been earlier, her front pressed to him. She glared up at him in anger, twitching her sword arm futilely.

"You're pretty when you're angry," Link noted. "A rather nice improvement from normal, I'll admit."

"You're vile," replied Zelda, and for a moment she half-thought of spitting on that smirk of his.

"You like it," he replied arrogantly, tightening his arms around her. Their position was rather like an embrace, Zelda noted, but lacking the intimacy and love of one. For whatever reason, that thought pained her, and it must have showed through in her eyes- Link faltered, and her opening appeared.

"Zelda..." he began, voice softer now.

"Don't you dare!" she hissed between her teeth, and, in a smooth moment, she'd brought her knee up and rammed him securely in the most painful of places. He doubled over, wheezing, and Zelda threw his sword down into the sand of the arena.

"So that's where you've been wanting to touch me all morning, is it?" he cajoled her as she went to pick up her sword.

"Link, to be quite frank, I despise you and would be glad to see you gone from my kingdom forever."

Without waiting for his reply, she stormed away, cheeks red with fury and shame, and left the arena, leaving Link on the ground and her onlookers stunned.

"Well," said Malon to Valin from where they watched behind the tree, "that didn't go as bad as it could have, I suppose. For a moment there, it looked like they were lovers, not enemies."

"Link is such an idiot," agreed Valin, shaking his head. "Looks like he's gone and roused a pit of vipers."

"She beat him, though," stated Malon.

"Not in a sportsmanly manner."

"Some of the moves he used were cheap, too."

"All's fair in love and war," quoted Valin.

"But is this love or war?" asked Malon.

"Both."

They were quiet for a moment, until at last, Valin spoke.

"We've got to get them to stop hating each other, somehow. We need them to actually like each other."

"She likes him, but she'd rather die than show it."

"Link's the same."

"Tricky."

"Hn."

The two watched as Link stood weakly, hands still cupped over his groin, grabbed his sword, and limped from the arena. Watching him go, Malon had a thought.

"We need to find out their weaknesses. You find Link's, I'll get Zelda's. They're both bound to be at least a little bit emotionally vulnerable right now. So let's go, talk to them, and meet together in the garden just before lunch to talk about things."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Valin. He glanced at Link's retreating form, made to go, and then stopped. "Have you thought about the stakes of our wager?"

"Yes," replied Malon, heart fluttering a little faster and cheeks flushing as she spoke. "If Zelda is the first to crack, I'd like you to accompany me to the next Gala as my escort."

Valin grinned dashingly. "Doesn't sound bad. If Link's the first to crack, I get a kiss. Sound fair?" he asked, tipping her chin up to look at him.

"Fair," Malon replied, heart thudding against her ribcage. Valin nodded, pleased, and stepped back, extending his hand.

"Deal?"

"Deal," Malon replied, taking his hand and shaking it. He turned their grasp so her hand was atop and, suavely, he kissed the back of it.

"Good day, Miss Lolona."

"Good day," Malon replied faintly. Valin left her, and, taking a moment to battle off her dizzy pleasure, Malon breathed. Then, she set off after her friend.

She wasn't going behind her best friend's back, after all. She was doing what was best for Zelda, even if she would never recognize it. These thoughts consoling her, Malon went to talk to the Queen of the country.

**-----------Link: The Guest Chambers, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Second Morning**

"...I swear, the woman's nothing more and nothing less than pure evil!" raged Link as he limped back and forth across the room holding a very cold wet rag against a certain area of his body that was still sore. "She's been sent straight from the evil realm to torment me!"

"You were the one that started it, you know," Valin informed Link from where he reclined on his own bed, watching his friend in amusement. "You antagonized her from the second you two met up again."

"She wasn't supposed to fight back this hard! I mean, she was supposed to fight back, but not like this!"

"How, then?"

"She was supposed to fight for me, not against me!"

"So you wanted her to chase after you like some lovesick puppy and try to earn your love back?"

"Yes!!"

Valin slapped his hand to his forehead and sighed. "Link, you're going about this all wrong. Let's look at things this way. What exactly could Zelda do that would make you more willing to be kind to her?"

"I'd like it if she weren't so damn obnoxious," muttered Link, sitting down heavily in a chair.

"How is she obnoxious?"

"She's just so... so high and mighty! So regal! It's as though I can't even compete with that."

"Act more human, ok. What else?"

"I dunno. I just wish she weren't so damn good at deflecting my insults and firing them right back!!"

"Be a doormat. Okay. What do you want out of her? That might be a little easier."

"Love," immediately popped from Link's mouth. He ran his hands through his hair in aggravation, furthering his state of disarray. "Companionship. She's the only one like me in this world... so understanding. Someone I don't have to be guarded around. Oh, Valin," Link added, sinking his head into his hands. "I'm doing this all wrong."

"Yep. But don't worry- we'll get things sorted out soon enough. You scratched up anywhere at all?"

"Not too bad, just on my hands and arms," grumbled Link. "I'm going to have some lovely bruises, though."

"You did challenge her. Try to be a little nicer to her, Link, and maybe she'll be nicer to you. Not too nice, or she'll suspect something's up and throw up the shields. Just... try to not be so antagonistic."

**-----------Zelda: The Queen's Chambers, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Second Morning**

"But how can I not be antagonistic when he's terrorizing me?!" Zelda exclaimed, pacing up and down her room. Malon was sitting at the dresser, toying with her hair and watching her friend through the mirror.

"All I'm saying is act like... act like you do with criminals. Kind but fair. You getting mad at him and him getting mad at you gets you nowhere. If you want him to love you again, you have to show him that you're a being worthy of his love."

"But he's just...so...impossible!" managed Zelda, throwing herself down on her bed. "I can't stand him!"

"You love him, don't you?"

"Of course I do!"

"But you fight with him incessantly."

"He started it."

Malon sighed, pinned up a curling lock of hair, and turned to face her friend.

"Alright, Zelda. Let's look at things this way. What sort of behavior do you want out of him? Maybe that'll give you some insight."

"A little respect might be nice," Zelda grumbled. "And courtesy. It would be wonderful if he tried to charm me, but I think _that_ isn't going to happen any time soon. I don't know- a little consideration would be great."

"Let's look at things this way," reasoned Malon. "You do still love Link-"

"-despite my better reason," grumbled Zelda.

"-and there might be a chance that maybe somewhere deep down, Link still loves you-"

"Ha! That's a god one!"

"-and is covering up his vulnerability and pain with bravado. Let's just consider this an improbably hypothetical situation."

"Very highly improbable," agreed Zelda.

"I ask you- how, then, might you go about earning Link's outward love and trust once more? Infuriating him probably isn't the best way to go about it."

"I guess," conceded Zelda sullenly. As Malon beamed brilliantly and opened her mouth to make another of her irritatingly reasonable remarks, a knock resounded at the door. A glance at the clock told Zelda it was her Chief Assistant, Tetra, and the small army of maids who helped Zelda get ready in the mornings. Thankful for the interruption to Malon's obnoxious reasoning, Zelda moved behind the dressing screen and began to undress as Malon went to the door and let in the whole crew.

"Good morning," chirped Tetra as she seated herself at a small table in the center of Zelda's chambers.

"Nothing good about it," grunted the Queen, flaunting her highly atypical bad mood. The women all looked to each other and smiled- word traveled fast in the castle, and everyone knew of the encounter in the arena just a half hour before. Two of the servants- a bath girl and a dressing girl- went behind the screen to help the Queen.

"Well, Highness, I do believe you've a busy day ahead of you. Bolten," she added, snapping her fingers. A serving boy (the only male in the chamber) brought forth a large bag, holding it out to Tetra with scrawny arms. The woman removed a sheaf of bound paper from the depths of the bag as well as a quill, then nodded to the boy. He backed away as Tetra flipped through the sheaf and began to read. "No appeals this morning, thank the Goddesses- I had them called off after the nightmare yesterday. If there are any emergencies, we'll hear about them from Alyz, so there's nothing to be worried about. So you have court, and that will probably last until noontime, and after that you're to dine with your Council... I know you don't like it," Tetra added, pre-empting the Queen's complaint, "but it seems they want to discuss something with you- something about bestowing titles upon commoners. They say they've come to some decisions that they'd like to present, so hopefully it shouldn't turn into a gargantuan argument. After lunch you're going to appear at the Tournament to formally kick off the games and you'll be there for a few hours- lucky break, if you ask me. At three you get two hours to attend to business in your office, give or take as you will, and then around five or five-thirty you're going to go to get ready for the ball. Malon and I are expecting that it'll take at least five hours to get you dressed and ready-"

"Five!" exclaimed the Queen, voice muffled.

"-so you're going to have to dine while your hair is dressed. Did you have a particular gown in mind for tonight, so that Malon and I can coordinate jewelry accordingly? After that fiasco with the royal treasure yesterday I'd like to have it done as early in the day as possible."

"The red one," stated Zelda from behind the screen, remembering Malon's comment from the night before, that she ought to woo Link with her looks. "You know, the one I've never worn, with the low back, the tie-neck and the strap-on front. It was sent in from Labrynna, I think."

"The one you proclaimed made you look like a harlot?" asked Malon in smiling disbelief.

"Yes- ouch, cold!" she called from behind the screen, followed by a splash.

"Sorry, Milady," murmured one of the maids demurely.

"_That_ red one?" asked Tetra, shocked. Malon used Tetra's silence to jump in and take over the affairs of Zelda's appearance, as was her job.

"You swore you'd never wear it- but no matter. It _is_ a lovely gown, though there are some out-of-season elements. I'll send it to the seamstress and have her give it the necessary touch-ups, and I'll go to the treasury and get you something nice to wear with it. Black diamonds, maybe?"

"As long as it goes with the dress."

"Shall I pull a backup dress, just in case you change your mind?" Malon asked cautiously as Tetra wrote something down.

"If you feel it necessary- but this isn't a rash decision. I'm not changing my mind."

"Mhm," murmured Tetra, whereas Malon only smiled. Zelda came around the screen then wearing her many layers of underclothes and petticoats, hair hanging wet and straight as a pin down past her waist. Dutifully, she sat across from Tetra and let the hairdresser begin her work.

"What decisions do you need me to make right now?" Zelda asked her assistant as Malon helped the dressing maid to select a proper gown for the Queen's day ahead.

"Nothing big- dinners, who you want to sit where at the table and so forth. I've got a diagram, if you'd be so kind as to label..."

With a sigh, Zelda took the quill from her assistant and, careful not to get ink on her hands, she began to work, and thus began her day as Queen.

**-----------Malon: The Royal Gardens, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Second Afternoon**

Just because Malon was the Queen's Maid didn't mean that she had an easy day. In fact, far from it: Malon rose early, met with Tetra briefly, assisted Zelda in her chambers and participated in Tetra's daily review, and then after Zelda left her chambers in the mornings, it was Malon's job to tend to the Queen's more discreet affairs, such as managing the various states of her apparel, cleaning and repairing her jewelry, collecting and categorizing the various articles of non-business mail she received (compliments from her people, invitations to neighboring kingdoms, requests to be introduced and so on), see to the cleaning of the Queen's rooms and oftentimes the palace, keep tabs and organize the Palace meals, hire and fire servants and so on. If Tetra was in charge of managing and organizing Zelda's business and schedule then Malon was in charge of managing and organizing palace life. She had dozens of complaints to address every day, and for all that her job often gave her a headache, Malon was good at it.

All this aside, the Queen's Maid was able to sneak away from her duties for a short time- she'd pulled Zelda's ball gown for the night ahead from the preservatory (as well as a backup) and selected jewelry that would match both dresses. She'd had the gowns sent to cleaning and had hand-delivered the jewelry to the Queen's room, and briefly reviewed the menu for the dinner that night and corrected errors. She was eating a carrot (her pathetic lunch) as she hurried through the garden, mentally going over what Zelda had said that morning about what she wanted out of Link. She rounded the corner and saw Valin and Ralis sitting together on a bench, heads bent in discussion. At the sound of Malon's approach they looked up, and both faces split into grins.

"Ah, there you are," greeted Valin warmly, standing. "We've been waiting."

"Sorry, been really busy today," replied Malon, a little out of breath. "Good day, Lord Leonas. Good day, Your Highness," she said, curtsying to both men. With a smile, they each bowed, and motioned to Malon to sit between them on the wide bench.

"So, since you're busy, let's make this quick," Ralis said with a charming grin. "We wouldn't want to keep you from important business, after all. Did you get anything out of the Queen?"

"Yes," replied Malon, unapologetically biting off a bit of carrot. She chewed and swallowed, and then began to recite. "She said that she'd like respect and courtesy, and added that him trying to charm her would be simply wonderful. Mostly, though, she just wants consideration."

"Ah," nodded Valin. "I don't suppose you were able to reason with her at all about how she acts towards him?"

"I tried, but our lives are very busy and we ran out of time," Malon told him with a sigh. "So, Valin and Ralis, what did you two get?"

"The man's an idiot," muttered Valin, causing Ralis to snort with laughter in a most undignified way. Malon beamed at the Zora King, then turned her attention back to Valin. "He didn't want her to fight back when he initiated all this blockheadedness- he wanted her to chase after him like a lovesick puppy."

"Mmm, no good. Zelda doesn't do the puppy thing," replied Malon with a shake of her head.

"We know," Ralis said grimly. "Fortunately, Valin was able to get a little more out of him- or maybe unfortunately."

"He thinks it's obnoxious that she's regal. 'High and mighty' was the term he used, I believe. He feels like he can't compete. He'd also like it if she weren't so good at deflecting his insults- in other words, he wishes she were slightly more doormat-ish. The good news is, he does want her to love him, and he still loves her. He wants her companionship and her understanding- the two share a very singular burden, and Link would like it if they could share it together. He dislikes guarding his heart with her as well. So, to make this work, we're going to have to get Link, the idiot, to be kinder to Zelda, and then she, in turn, will open up to him. Do we have any ideas how to do this?"

"What's Link's idea of kindness? We don't want him to get the wrong idea and go killing every moblin and bokoblin within the country's borders and expecting Zelda to fall into his lap," pointed out Ralis. "Normally, Link has solved all his problems by killing things. That is maybe not the most desirable course of action in this case."

"No indeed," agreed Malon, looking a little green at the thought. "Let's try to get him to do little things. Aside from correcting his abhorrent behavior, if he could give little compliments, maybe do small favors, it would likely work wonders. There are also, unfortunately, problems within the country that do need rectifying by means of arms. I'm not saying he needs to thoroughly eliminate the deku baba population," added Malon quickly. "But I do know, for instance, that there's a nasty poe problem down in the dungeons and nobody knows how to get rid of them."

"Link's got a knack for dealing with things that otherwise stump everyone else in the world," Valin agreed. "Poe problem. I'll make sure to mention it. Is there anything… anything smaller he could do? Is there anything the Queen wants?"

"She loves flowers," murmured Malon, looking around the courtyard. "It has been her dream to turn this garden into a paradise, but she doesn't have much in the way of time or superfluous funding to devote to it. She has no problem throwing a gala, because that's something her people can enjoy, but not enough people come to the garden for her to feel justified in modifying it, even though she's the Queen and it would be full well within her rights to do so."

"Do something to the garden. Link could probably manage that. The man's got odd means of accomplishing things- he might just be able to pull something off," mused Ralis. "I myself can donate some blossoms from Zora's Domain."

"Zelda is also fascinated by ancient cultures," added Malon. "Unfortunately, relatively few relics survive."

"He's got some interesting old relics," Valin informed her. "Found them in temples and such. Perhaps I can talk him into giving some to her."

"I think that would be a good start," agreed Ralis. Noticing Malon's slight fidgeting, the young King smiled.

"Miss Lolona, I'm certain you have very important matters to attend to, and we'll not detain you any longer. I'm sure that between the three of us making various efforts, tonight's ball will be at least slightly more pleasurable than last night's."

"Speaking of which," Malon added as she stood, "your friend is going to have his socks knocked off. Be warned."

"We'll be sure not to tell him," replied Ralis with a grin, bowing before Malon. "Good day, Miss Lolona."

"Good day," echoed Valin, also bowing. Malon curtsied to them both, bid them farewell, and hurried back to her work, mind grinding through her to-do list. She'd take a review from the heads of the various staffs, pick up Zelda's gowns from cleaning, help the Queen dress for the Tournament, and then they'd have a blessed break. Hopefully, in the time they were gone, Ralis and Valin would manage to pull something off with the obstinate hero- Goddesses knew Malon would be working at Zelda in various little ways.

Oh, how she prayed the two of them would get over their thickheadedness, and soon. All this conspiring was just another thing in a day that was already too busy for Malon's liking. If it worked, though…. Malon thought for a moment, and then grinned as she re-entered the palace.

If it worked, it would be completely worth it.

**-----------Link: The Grand Arena, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Second Afternoon**

It had been a day filled with battle, mused Link as he stood at the ready within the arena, sweating under his annoying, clanky armor. Not long after lunch, he'd heard from Ralis that there was a poe problem in the dungeons of Hyrule Castle, and thus, being painfully familiar with both (and both against his will) Link went to sort out the problems. He was tired and sweaty, but feeling good, and he'd already entered to the tournament so, by his figuring, the best of the warriors there was almost on-level with him in his current state, if not possibly even slightly better than he.

Everyone began to cheer as Zelda stepped into the royal box, and Link felt his eyes drawn to her. She was a cool vision in white and lavender on a near-stifling day, fanning herself gently as she looked around at her people with a smile. She waved at the children tenderly, and then turned her attention the arena. Almost as though on a cue, the crowd hushed.

"Good people of Hyrule and welcome visitors," she said, looking at the foreign dignitaries with a smile, "I am thrilled to announce the beginning of the Tournament! If the competitors would first come forth and announce themselves," Zelda added with a smile. One by one, the competitors came forward. They were noble and peasant alike- so long as you could sufficiently wield a sword, you could enter the tournament. That was the Queen's decree.

"Garawp Singleton, Miller of Kakariko," said one man to the Queen with a bow.

"Sir Rowan Hallas, Duke of Southbridge," said another. At last, it was Link's turn. He stepped forward to the platform before the Royal Box and saw Zelda's eyes harden just the littlest bit, though her smile remained pleasant.

"Link, Adventurer," he said to her, and bowed, armor clanking. He looked up at Zelda to see her watching him very carefully. Casually, he winked at her, the faintest smile curling at his lips, and then he moved back to his place in line.

It was not long before the last of the competitors had introduced himself. Zelda looked along the line, and for a moment her eyes paused on Link's and then her gaze swept right past him. Link wasn't sure whether her cool composure infuriated or excited him, and chalked it up to the heat that he was even wondering.

"Play a fair game, gentlemen," she said to them, and though her voice was light her words carried the faintest warning. Then, she smiled, and clapped her gloved hands twice. "Let the tournament begin!" As the crowds cheered uproariously, she sat in her chair, fanning herself as she looked about. A tall man seated to the right of the Queen stood and quickly read the rules of the tournament, announced the order of fights, then sat back down. The Queen leaned over to talk to him, and Link felt a brief strike of envy as she laughed at something he said. The clanking of armor roused him from his musings and he reminded himself that he had a tournament to win, and that getting mad about Zelda having male friends wouldn't do anything but distract him. So, he filed off with the other competitors into the waiting area and sat, watching the battles and waiting.

The tournament was very efficiently run, Link had to admit. The competitors were allowed to watch the fights, but before their own each man went to a different warm up area. When the battle ended, the next two would go out. A large magical chart hung on the far side of the arena for everyone's reference, and on it was marked wins, losses, and disqualifications. There were squires that would call the two competitors to the warm up rooms and also out onto the field, and before the tournament, each man had been searched for unauthorized weaponry and given good, approved armor and shields, that they might be safer. In addition, swords were inspected, and those swords which did not pass the standards tests were confiscated. For a nominal fee, the owner could rent a sword, or if he had another sword that would pass the test that, too, could be submitted.

Naturally, Link's sword passed the standards test, and the weapons inspector seemed rather impressed by Link's blade.

"My lord, that's one of the finest blades I've seen, and I've seen a good many blades in my lifetime. What master blacksmith made it?"

"I bought it in Minish," Link lied smoothly. There had been no 'bought' about it- he'd been given it by the King of Minish as a gift for taking care of a group of obnoxious and highly violent rebels. Even had Link bought the blade, though, it would have been superb- the Minish were known all throughout the world for the incredible quality of their swords.

"Minish, lovely," replied the inspector with a frenzied nod. "Lovely indeed. Well, along with you, then. Next in line please, next in line."

It was Link's turn to go warm up. He stood and clanked over to his designated area, and took a moment to eye his opponent. He was a tall man- indeed, threatening looking by all means, with coarse dark hair and sunken-in eyes. He was far broader than Link too, and the hero grimaced. He'd have to be sure not to get on the business end of this man's blade. Hopefully, though, his size would make him slow.

Link moved into the area, stretched quickly, then performed some very basic maneuvers. He was still warm, though, from his little jaunt in the dungeons- for good measure, he did some calming breathing exercises. The fight outside was over quickly- Link had just finished his second set of breathing exercises when the Squire called his name. Grabbing his helmet and tucking it underneath his arm, Link clanked out into the arena, where he stood across from his very tall opponent. They shook hands- surprisingly enough, the giant did not squeeze Link's hand or leer threateningly. Instead, he smiled warmly, and Link did the same. They then turned to the Queen and bowed- Link watched Zelda's eyes flit between him and his opponent, and saw the calculations running behind her eyes. At last, she inclined her chin, and the two men stood, fastening their helmets on. They drew swords and shields and crossed their blades, waiting for the whistle. When the shrill noise cut the air, they were off, clashing blades and parrying for several long minutes.

It became very quickly evident to Link that this was the wrong method of attack, though he wanted to give the people of Hyrule a little show- Link backed off his opponent and began to circle, crouching defensively behind his shield as he sized up his opponent's movements. The man was fast- and good, Link reminded himself… just not good enough to compete with him. The two circled each other, and Link studied his opponent very carefully. After a moment, he understood everything about his opponent and his style of fighting.

Link moved in, purposely dropping his shield a little bit so the other man would charge for the opening. When he did, Link waited until the last possible moment, then ducked, rolled, and came up behind the confused other man, sword pointing at the base of his neck.

"Yield!" said Link. The man seemed to be stunned- then he laughed, dropping blade and shield. The crowd roared with approval as both men peeled off their helmets and clasped arms in a sign of friendship.

"You're good, brother," said the man pleasantly. Link smiled warmly and said genuinely, "As are you."

They left the arena and the next two men went in, and the tournament stretched on. Link fought once more that afternoon, but his second battle was even easier than his first. Despite this, he'd worked up a hearty appetite by the time the tournament was dismissed for dinner. Link watched Zelda go through the crowd- she was talking rapidly with a golden-haired woman and a redhead, listing things off on her fingers. The redhead nodded and the golden woman furiously wrote things down. The man walking behind the Queen seemed to be listening avidly, and even paused to ask her a question. She answered it quickly with a wave of her hand, and then they'd turned the corner and were gone.

Valin came and found Link- he'd decided to sit this tournament out- and clapped his friend on the back with a grin.

"Good job, Link! Brilliant! Come, let's get some dinner and ready ourselves for the ball tonight."

"Sounds good," Link said- he was too hungry and lost in his thoughts of Zelda to even complain that his friend was, yet again, talking like a frilly.

* * *

Uploaded: 11:45 Central Daylight Time Monday, July 2, 2007 


	8. The Second Night

**-----------Zelda: The Queen's Chambers and Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Second Night**

Watching the tournament earlier had sickened Zelda to her stomach- the way Link disgraced such excellent fighters was nearly enough to put her off her dinner. Fortunately for her, she had much work to do to drive such thoughts from her mind, and after she completed as much as she could possibly cram into two hours, it was time for her to get ready, which provided little room for thoughts of anything but pain.

For all the seeming simplicity and effortlessness in Zelda's appearance at the gala each night, getting ready for balls was an outrageously long and difficult task. First was a long bath to soften the skin that more often than not left her drowsy and stupid, then a thorough (and often painful) scrubbing of her hair, and then several hours of cosmetic hell. For instance, she would be in a reclining chair more often than not- a doctor would polish her teeth and four manicurists would buff her fingernails and toenails, as well as soften her arms, legs, hands, and feet. While all this went on, a hairstylist would be at work drying Zelda's hair, which hung off the end of the uncomfortable chair, and after drying the stylist would curl it. When the doctor finished with Zelda's teeth the reclining chair would be put upright. The manicurists would stay at their work and the hairstylist then had full reign of terror over Zelda's scalp. In addition, a makeup artist would somehow squeeze in and get to work plucking, pinching, and painting- not simply Zelda's face, either. Often, foundation and luminescence cream would go over every available inch of Zelda's body.

Normally the Queen wore a simple slip throughout all this, but as her dress tonight didn't call for much in the way of undergarments (on top, at least) she only had a towel and a thin, waist-down petticoat to safeguard her modesty. She sighed thankfully when she was released from "The Chair" three and a half hours after entering, but was dragged away a moment later to have her ensemble draped upon her person.

The dress Zelda had selected for that night was very simple in appearance but complicated in actuality. First went the petticoats on the bottom to give her skirt shape, though they had to be worn uncomfortably low on her waist so that they wouldn't show above the lines of the low, open back. After that, the bodice was strapped and glued to Zelda's body- it was stiff and sculpted to fit over her breasts and stomach perfectly, and was held in place by thin, sparkling chains that wrapped around back. Though sturdy, Zelda was nonetheless afraid they would snap and disgrace her over the course of the evening, so, for good measure, she had spare chains tucked into the low hem pockets of her outermost petticoat, which also contained a feather-light dagger- just in case. Over the bodice went the gown, which was little more than a skirt. It gathered to a near-shockingly low "V" in the back and was accented with black silk trim- in the front, the skirt draped horizontally down to Zelda's ankles. The top of the waistline was also sculpted in a "V" shape, and, to protect the Queen's modesty, two slim, vaguely triangular panels of fabric hung from her neck, draped modestly over her breasts, and were sewn into the waistline, though they were just the slightest bit long and loose and thus hung elegantly and casually, a classy touch. Zelda wore matching gloves as well- red silk, trimmed with black on top and black laces in the back from hem to elbow. Though the gown fit perfectly, it still took forever to shove Zelda into it, and by the time she was dressed, minutes were running short. The hairdresser put the finishing touches (a ruby pin) into Zelda's hair, which had been pulled back in a knot and then left to fall in sultry rivulets down her back, Malon clipped a bracelet and choker on the Queen and Zelda put her signet ring on, slid into her slippers, and the two women hurried down to the ballroom. It was almost time for the Queen to make her appearance.

"You look lovely," Malon complimented her friend once they stood outside the ballroom together. "Truly, you do."

"I feel naked," Zelda informed her friend simply as they stood outside the doors, waiting to be announced.

"He won't know what hit him," assured Malon, and then, before Zelda could say anything else, the lovely redhead (who was clad in cream and blue tonight) stepped through the doors and into the room. Zelda heard Malon announced, and counted slowly to thirty. Not long after, the trumpets began to sound and the doors opened before her. Holding her head high and praying she didn't fall out of her ridiculous dress (why had she thought it would be a good idea?) she glided majestically into the ballroom.

"Her Royal Highness, Zelda Ellerimere Nohansen deHyrule, the Queen."

**-----------Link: The Royal Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Second Night**

"Don't worry chap, you look great," reassured Valin as Zelda's name was called, though he was smiling as though he knew some sort of secret. "Poor Queen won't know what hit her."

"I feel like a frilly," grumbled Link, tugging irritably at his imperious black and white ensemble. Black dress boots, black trousers, white doublet but black tie and liverycoat- he looked like some sort of marauder-frilly, and had loudly proclaimed it to his friend. Though he never would have said it aloud, though, deep down Link did acknowledge that the starkness of his outfit made his tanned skin and blue eyes and sun-bleached golden hair more striking. Maybe Zelda would find him handsome. Maybe- just maybe- she'd even be without words.

Then again, that was assuming that she didn't-

All thoughts were knocked from Link's mind as Zelda entered the room. She was resplendent in a flowing dress of red and black silk that flowed around her like dark fire. Contrasting with her dress, with its dramatic sweeps and drapes, was the softness of her skin- her shoulders and arms were bared, and the under-bodice openly flaunted the beauties of her body. As if Link wasn't at enough of a disadvantage, though, Zelda turned- and he saw that the beautiful gown she wore had no back. The skirt began in a knot daringly low around her waist, and higher up there were two thin glittering chains that clasped firmly around her back, presumably holding that bodice in place.

He inhaled sharply and looked at Valin as though to say "help!"

"Think you lost tonight, friend," Valin said, eyes running over Zelda briefly before he turned to look at his friend. "Best of luck to you."

"What am I going to do? I'm not going to be able to fight with her when she looks like that…"

"Then drag her off into the garden and declare your undying love," replied Valin with a shrug. At this, Link blanched.

"No. No way."

"Then suck it up. Be a man. Just because she looks good doesn't mean you don't. Probably you two will stand there and stammer at each other for a few minutes before some charming man sweeps Zelda off to dance."

"Dance?" At this, Link's eyes darkened with possession. "No sir. Not on my watch."

"Good. If you need me, I'll be with that gorgeous redhead over by the punch bowl," Valin reassured Link. Ralis, who had watched the whole exchange with typical Zora stoicism, grinned at Link pityingly.

"Good luck," he told his friend.

"I'll need it," murmured Link as he watched Zelda move smoothly through the crowd. Though her path was weaving, it was obvious to him that she was coming his way.

"Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic," murmured Link to himself. "You've lived through a thousand worse things than seeing the woman you love in an outrageously seductive dress…"

And then, quite suddenly, Zelda stood before him, looking up at him with a serene smile. "Good evening, Adventurer," she said, and though her eyes swept over him, he could read no emotion in their depths. He felt suddenly very silly standing before her in all her beauty, whilst he was nothing but a confused peasant in a monkey suit. Dammit, though, he was a confused adventurer in a monkey suit who was going to win the Queen's heart, no matter what- and maybe, just maybe, he would take Valin's advice and be charming.

Couldn't hurt, right?

"Your highness," murmured Link, bowing before her. He caught her hand up in his and brought it to his lips for a kiss, eyes burning into hers the whole while. "You look ravishing this eve." He held her hand for a few moments longer than was necessary and released it. _Don't make a quip, don't make a quip,_ Link screamed at himself on the inside, for he yearned to sully his compliment with a well-aimed insult. That wouldn't work, though- it would just make her hate him more.

"You are looking nice yourself," replied Zelda, showing no response to his underhanded flirtation save for the faintest of color in her cheeks. "I confess, though a suit of armor becomes you, you wear it perhaps too often and inappropriately."

"You're angry at me for entering in the tournament," observed Link. He was glad he'd understood her insult- for a while there, he'd been worried that spending seven years away from the impossible woman had dulled his perception of wittiness and such.

"Only in part, Adventurer. I speak, too, of the armor of your cruel words and ostentatious blade."

Or maybe Link was just an idiot.

"Dance with me," he said to her as the music struck up. Zelda looked at him with an expression on her face that plainly read 'you MUST be joking.' "Dance with me, Milady, please," he said, voice a little softer, though he smiled. "It would be an honor, would it not?"

"And why might I bestow honors upon you?" she asked him with a quirked brow. "You've shown me that you're all too ready to shirk them."

"You did promise me certain honors before I left," Link reminded her. "I'll not call you on your promise to make me a Duke, but it would be nice to at least be able to get a dance from a lovely woman in red."

"The Comtess of Smallpeak is a lovely woman in red. Mayhaps you should entreat her for your amusement."

"Fine!" said Link, throwing his hands up in the air. "I see how it is, you exasperating woman." As people around them looked at him quizzically, Zelda looked as though she might laugh.

"My, my, good Adventurer," said Zelda levelly, though laughter showed in her eyes. "You are far too hotheaded."

"Oh most beautiful and gracious Queen," he said, rolling his eyes, "bestow upon me the infinite honor of allowing you to stomp on my feet for the next three minutes. Please."

"Hm…" murmured Zelda, tapping a silk clad finger against rosy lips. Just looking at them made Link's blood run hotter. "No." She turned to go and Link hurried around to stand in front of her.

"What do I have to do to get you to dance with me?" he whined. Seeing her eyes beginning to light with anger, he repressed the urge to fan the flames of her wrath and instead took a deep breath, looking at her with humility. "Please, Zelda?" he asked quietly.

"Will you leave me alone if I do?" she asked in exasperation. "I swear, Link, you're the most obnoxiously persistent of men," she chastised, even as she took Link's elbow with her hand.

"It's my dogged persistence that lets me accomplish astounding feats," replied Link with a charming grin. Zelda visibly reacted to this, as well as the touch of his hands on her waist as they began to dance. "How else might I have saved Hyrule?"

"Sheer, dumb luck," grunted Zelda. "You could have cheated. You have the marking of the Goddesses, after all."

"As do you," pointed out Link as they spun. "Did I ever tell you what Ganondorf said about us? He believed that we were chosen by the Gods to wield absolute power, and that those wielders would be the most suitable leaders for this world."

"Too bad you never put down your feet for long enough to lead anyone or anything. You just wander…" stated Zelda.

"I lead a different sort of people," corrected Link, spinning Zelda about. "You rule a kingdom. guide those who might yearn to make a difference along the path of change."

At this, Zelda was silent. After a while, she spoke. "Why did you enter the tournament, Link? You disgrace many of the best fighting men in my country. They are all outmatched- it is unfair to them. You have nothing to prove."

"It was something to do. I didn't think there would be much to occupy my time here in the castle- at least, nothing as distracting as a tournament. Perhaps I'm wrong, though- why, only this morning I took care of a nasty Poe infestation…"

"You can kill things," stated Zelda flatly. "I am just _so_ impressed with you, Link."

"At least I don't sit around passively when there's problems," he shot back before he could stop himself. Thankfully, the song ended, and Zelda pulled herself away from him.

"Try creating something instead of destroying," she stated coldly, causing Link to wince. "Good evening, Adventurer." She curtsied, and turned and left, leaving Link standing in the middle of the floor, alone, feeling rather dumb. He was seized with the impulse to go grab his sword and hack at something, and that only made Zelda's words sting worse.

Things had been going almost well, too, he thought regretfully as he moved to linger at the punch bowl. Valin was dancing with a redhead and Ralis had taken the Queen, and Link was, he thought to himself, glad to be alone with his thoughts… for a time.

But he vowed he'd make Zelda fall in love with him, even if he broke every bone in his body in the process.

* * *

Uploaded: 11:45 Central Daylight Time Monday, July 2, 2007 


	9. The Third Day

**A/N: Happy fourth of July, all you Americans!! Go blow something up. I really don't have anything to say about these two chapters. So... enjoy!**

**-----------Zelda: The Royal Garden, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Third Morning**

The Queen rose before dawn once more, but forsook the routine comforts of the practice arena and instead went for a walk in the royal gardens to watch the roses unfurl by purples and pinks of the newborn morning light. She'd tied an ornate robe over her nightclothes and had clipped her hair to the back of her head and slipped from her room like a fey spirit. As usual, few were awake at this hour of the morning- a servant here, a servant there, and of course, the guards, though for their stillness they might as well have been suits of armor.

A fresh dew had settled over everything, and as the garden began to slowly fill with liquid golden light, the flowers began to sparkle as though they'd been encrusted with a thousand glittering diamonds. With a sigh, Zelda took in the beauty of it all, watching her little haven by the dawning light.

She wanted to do more to this garden- she loved it, and loved the flowers, and felt that it would make an excellent contribution to the overall environment of the Castle. However, she felt guilt at spending money for something such as that, for it brought no income- the nobles who came to town for the galas she held fettered away their money, and thus it went to the people. The flowers she yearned for, though, must be brought in from other countries, and though she would be more than happy to pay for the labor involved in installing such a garden, she didn't feel like her own little wants justified such a big hullabaloo.

Sighing as a twinge of unhappiness pulled at her heartstrings, Zelda sat down on a bench, not minding that it was faintly moist from the cool night air. She turned her face skyward and pondered the stars as they went out, one by one- the sun was dawning, slowly but surely, and blue and gold warred over the earth to establish dominion of hue. It reminded Zelda of the takeover of Zant, how he'd blanketed Hyrule in Twilight…

Forcefully, Zelda wrenched her mind away from thoughts of the Twili, and of Midna- what would that sister of her heart say if she knew Zelda's predicament? She'd probably yell at Link something fierce, Zelda mused, and perhaps smack him over the head a few times…

Oh, how Zelda wished she could smack Link over the head. But more than that, she wished she were just a normal woman, just normal Zelda, so she could really tell Link what she thought of him- that she loved him, loved him more than life itself, and yet that he needed to get over himself and pull his head out of his rear. But the sweet, gentle Queen of Hyrule could never say something like that, and especially not to the man to which she owed her country- not even if the man had abandoned her. Not even if what she yearned to tell him was true.

Life would be so simple if she didn't have standards to uphold, Zelda mused as she laid back on the bench. If she were just Zelda, not the Queen, she'd go swimming every day. She'd run around without shoes. She'd let her hair down and sing when she walked places, and she'd love without thoughts of dividing her heart between self and duty. The Queen of Hyrule, though, could not afford any of those luxuries.

As the garden lightened, Zelda realized she should return to her quarters before someone saw her- the Castle was waking up, and someone might be scandalized if they saw her in her night-robe. So, with a regretful look at the slowly-blossoming roses, she padded quietly from the garden and back to her chambers, and the only trace left behind, unknown even to her, was a single crystalline tear of remorse glittering upon the turf and mingling with the slowly-evaporating dew.

**-----------Valin: The Royal Stables, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Third Morning**

Valin was impressed with Malon's choice of a meeting place- though he had, at first, been doubtful when she'd told him to bring Ralis there for their meeting the next morning, he was surprised. They met in a tack room with gleaming floors and thick stone walls that smelled distinctly of warm leather, and Malon had spoken with the stablehands, so they would not be disturbed. Sunlight peered shyly in through the window and the air was cool and pleasant, even inside.

"Here's our problem," Malon stated from where she sat atop a glistening saddle that, in turn, was positioned snugly over a saddle-horse. "Their reactions to things are too different. Link looks to eliminate the problem in the swiftest way possible, while Zelda seeks to resolve it instead. Unfortunately, they're also both stubborn as mules, so they refuse to see eye-to-eye on certain matters. They need a middle ground, a basis upon which they can meet each other, but they don't have one."

"During the reconstruction they were united in doing what was best for the country," agreed Ralis. "Now they don't have that common goal, and the differences are glaringly obvious. Not to mention they seem to be hell-bent on finding each others' faults."

"But what can we do?" asked Valin, a little frustrated. "We can't stick the two of them in a boat without paddles and shove them out into the middle of a lake- they'd kill each other! It's a tempting thought," he added, seeing Malon's eyes light up. "But a little impossible to pull off, at current. We need… we need something for them to unite against."

"Or for," Ralis added.

"I don't know," replied Malon, shaking her head. "There aren't any problems in Hyrule at the moment- or, at least, nothing worthy of uniting for. I just hope Link and Zelda come around. It's plain to see they mean the world to each other- they wouldn't fight so much and worry so much about each other if they didn't. I just want to see the Queen happy. I never have before," she added. "Before, during the war, she was so quiet and reserved. The burden she bore, the grief of the loss of her father and brother, knowing that the country had fallen under her weakness, tore her apart. When Hyrule was reclaimed she became so much stronger, and though it was plain to see she loved Link it was also obvious it killed her because she knew she couldn't have him. And then when he left, I thought she would die. She didn't smile for two years after that, and I'm not sure I've ever heard her genuinely laugh at anything. Having Link back has put so much more emotion in her and brought out the woman- I just want to see that woman happy. I hope to the Goddesses Link doesn't mess anything up more than he already has," she finished, and shook her head with a sigh. "Poor Zelda."

"Link's much the same. I've seen a dozen emotions in him, but nothing to do with his heart until now," agreed Valin. Ralis nodded avidly. "We have to get the two of them together to stop being so proud or they'll drive us all insane."

"Perhaps we should just give them a very matter-of-fact talking to," mused Ralis from where he sat in the corner. At this, both Malon and Valin stopped and stared at him in silence. "…What?" asked the Zora King, feeling almost foolish and very much aware of the age gap all of a sudden between himself and the two others in the room.

"You're brilliant, Ralis. Zelda won't listen to me if I tell her she should just love Link openly, because that's what I've been saying all along- but maybe if you spoke to her, told her that you know for a fact that he's nuts about her… it's genius!" cried Malon.

"You're a safe ground between both Link and the Queen," agreed Valin. "You've got a good idea, though you're going to have to be tricky and tell a lie or two, and if you're caught in it, they'll both get angry and yell a lot and our plans might topple. Are you up to it?"

"Yes," replied Ralis firmly, though he gulped nervously. "For both their sakes. I owe them much- so, for them, I'll do it and I won't get caught in my lies."

"If it works, it'll be worth it," Valin told the Zora King with a grin.

"Completely," Ralis agreed.

**-----------Zelda: The Grand Arena, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Third Afternoon**

The tournament had been cleverly set-up so as not to get boring- on the first day, sword combat, on the second, archery, and on the third, the final rounds of both archery and sword combat, and the award ceremony. It was not yet Link's turn to shoot, but it would be soon. Zelda's disgust lined the inside of her mouth, a disgusting taste on her tongue. He shouldn't have entered the tournament- he was far and above Hyrule's best warriors, including her. For all that she'd been excited when she saw him on that first night after so long apart from him, she couldn't help but wish now that he'd never come to Hyrule… or, at least, that he'd never been such a wretch to her in the first place. He was so difficult! She couldn't stand, wished him gone- certainly the pain of parting from him once more wouldn't be half so terrible as the aching of her heart each time she saw him. His heart was plainly full of spite and malice; his absence would be an easier burden to bear than his cruelty.

Indeed, watching the tournament was more a punishment for Zelda than a break in her many duties. Zelda's pride in her people was offset by her disgust in Link, and she wished, for once, that she might be holed up in her office filling out forms and dealing with the many small catastrophes that came with ruling a kingdom. She wanted to serve her people, forget about her aching heart as she had before, but now she was made to suffer through watching the man she loved, who loved her naught, humiliate the people she lived for.

Link stepped forward, grabbing his bow and an arrow from the quiver in a sleek, familiar movement. "Link's a fine weaponsman," commented Ralis casually from where he sat immediately to Zelda's right in the royal box. It was a hot, bright, and beautiful day, with the friskiest of breezes causing the Hylian streamers to flap and crack merrily around the stadium. It seemed to Zelda that Ralis was enjoying himself greatly- the tournament was wonderful to watch, and she'd seen that he'd had the luxury of soaking his feet in a pan of cool, clean water, something she knew was not often afforded to him when he was on land.

"He is," admitted the Queen of Hyrule to Ralis (though a little grudgingly) as she watched the target of the Zora King's speculation shoot an arrow through the dead center of an archery target. "Perhaps a little too good for this contest."

"He shouldn't have entered, but he did," agreed Ralis. "Though I do believe he had an ulterior motive in doing so."

"Oh?" asked Zelda, trying for all the world to appear disinterested. "What was that? The glory? The reward?"

"He didn't think he'd get to see you at the ball on that first night," Ralis said simply and casually, eyes on the tournament. "He entered so you would see him once more, and be able to get used to the idea of him being here without some kind of ugly confrontation."

"That confrontation was his fault," replied Zelda, halfway between snappish and sad. "I wish our reunion had been different, that we might have walked a different path- but as it is, it seems I have aught but his spite."

"He's shy," Ralis told the Queen simply. "He loathes admitting his feelings, but he does have them. I remember, when I was younger and he saved my life, I told him I wanted to be strong, like him, and he told me that strength comes from knowing what you have to do and doing it, and that sometimes it's hard because what you feel gets in the way of what needs to happen. I asked him if he just locked his feelings away, and he said, no, he drew upon them- that it was for love that he did many of the horrible things he had to do. Love of family, of friends, of country…" Ralis looked meaningfully over at Zelda. "Of Queen. He has loved you a long time, Zelda, and loves you still- make no mistake. I looked up to him when I was a child, and he stayed within my realm for a time, then moved on. The man that returned seven years later was much changed, but the heart was the same, and the wants and loves of the heart the same. Please, give him a chance. He is suffering greatly for his pridefulness, though he strives to hide it behind a façade of coldness and bravado."

"He has hurt me deeply, Ralis," Zelda said to her good friend. "For this, it is difficult for me to face him with kindness. But if you ask it of me, I shall try, though only because you are such a good friend to me."

"You do me a great honor, highness," Ralis murmured, ducking his head in embarrassment, the bluest blush tinging his Zora cheeks. "Truly, I simply wish to see him- and you- happy. I know you care for each other a great deal, and that you were the closest of friends before he left. It would do the country great good if that friendship was rekindled."

"Yes," agreed Zelda with a distant sigh and far-away eyes. "Yes, it would."

Ralis's words had planted the much-loathed seeds of hope within Zelda's heart. From a practical standpoint, it would be simpler for her to hate Link, but emotions were never practical things and Zelda couldn't help her feelings any more than she could help the rising and the setting of the sun. But… his arrogance! His disrespect towards her, his blatant disdain for the skills of her people. She just wanted him to leave- Goddesses, the last thing she needed was for him to love her.

No, that was a lie. His love was the potion that would bring her back to life… and Ralis had planted hope of that life. But, with Link, would love be enough? She'd have to get past the layer of swagger and bravado, but could she?

For Link, she would, she resolved as she looked back at the archery contest. But first, she needed him to stop being such an arrogant ass… ha! As though that would ever happen.

With the slightest of smiles, Zelda turned her eyes speculatively to him, trying to plan how to best melt his frigid exterior and convince her to admit the truth, that his heart was hers, had been hers all along.

How indeed…

**-----------Link: The Training Arena, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Third Afternoon**

It had been a long and tiring day. Link had been idle and he hated it- he'd performed excellently in the archery contest, of course, though he could tell that irked Zelda, and so he was frustrated, but he had no way of occupying himself or venting his frustration. Thus it happened that Link was in the training arena, beating the living hell out of a practice dummy with his two hands. He was bored and restless and needed something to do other than fight, but no option was available but to fight. This in turn frustrated him more, and so he took out his anger on a dummy.

"What's wrong?" Ralis asked Link, coming up seemingly from nowhere as the sweating hero mercilessly pommeled the thing again and again and again.

"Nothing," replied Link instinctively. Ralis had been kind enough to bring him to the castle and invite him especially to the Gala- he didn't want to be ungrateful.

But the Zora King was smarter than that. "You're not used to inactivity," he said. "You're used to making preparations or moving or recuperating. Not sitting in one place wearing fancy clothes."

"I'm sorry, Ralis," said Link, ceasing his practicing for a moment and looking at the Zora King. "I know you wanted me to have fun."

"Actually," said Ralis casually, "I'll admit, I had a selfish motive in inviting you here."

"And that was?" Whump. Link did a sudden jumping spinning kick, causing the dummy to rock furiously on its pole.

"I wished to confirm that my suspicions were true. Long have the Queen and I corresponded in letters, and I recall after you left she sent me an epistle of the most distraught nature. I began to suspect as to the nature of her feelings toward you, though I feared I'd never get a chance to confirm them with my own eyes."

Link's heart was beating too quickly, and it wasn't from punching the dummy. He turned his entire concentration to killing the damned thing- who cared if it wasn't technically alive? "And that was?"

"She's in love with you, Link," Ralis said seriously. The adventurer pulled off an amazing spinning two-footed jump kick and the dummy exploded.

"Can't be. She hates me," corrected the sweating adventurer.

"No, she's too proud to show it to you, for she fears you would treat her with contempt for showing such an emotion."

"I would never," responded Link vehemently. Then, as though realizing that he'd just contradicted every interaction he'd had with the princess this visit, he sighed. "I guess I might."

"Link, she told me she loves you. Even if you don't love her in return, were you two not once the closest of friends? Honor this friendship. Time shouldn't change something so simple as that. For her sake, please, Link. Show her some kindness."

"Well it's not like I didn't try yesterday," he grunted irritably, though within, his heart was pounding. She loved him?! Surely it couldn't be so. "She bit my bleeding head off."

"And she was in the wrong, but it's not like you to just… give up if you fail at something once. So are you going to get along with her or not?"

"I suppose I'll try," grunted Link.

"Good, good," said the Zora King, clapping his friend on the back. "Now, I believe we have a dinner and a royal ball to prepare for. Come, come." And the younger and wiser of the two men led the befuddled adventurer away.

* * *

Uploaded: 17:20 Central Daylight Time Wednesday, July 4, 2007 


	10. The Third Night

**-----------Link: The Guest Quarters, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Third Night**

"It's a costume ball?!" barked the Hero. "I'm sorry, I am not dressing up as a deku scrub or a like like or whatever these blasted nobles are trying to pass themselves off as!"

"Of course not," agreed Valin soothingly. "It's a historical costume ball. Ralis told us back in Zora's domain, remember?"

"No, and I'm not going to be some dead old king," amended Link.

"No, you aren't. You're going to go as yourself," Ralis informed the adventurer.

"WHAT?! Oh no I'm not. I'm not important. Nobody knows me. I never had a very large role in history… it would be silly to go as myself. You're insane," he added, slowly backing towards the door.

"Stark, raving mad."

"Link, you've been hiding from your past for seven years now," stated Valin calmly. "Don't you think it's time to accept it?"

"I've accepted it! I've accepted it and I've moved on."

"You can't just move on from being a hero, Link," Ralis said coolly. "The things we do stay with us until the day we die. I am the King of my people- that's not something you and I can just accept and move on from. You saved this country. Many of us owe you our lives. You are as ingrained in this land as the rivers and the lakes and the mountains, and that's not something you can walk away from."

"You're the Hero of this country, Link, as much an important part of this kingdom as its Queen. Are you going to accept that or are you going to run away?" Added Valin. Link looked hopelessly between his two friends, appearing for all the world confounded and bewildered.

"I never wanted to be the hero," he said simply. "I just wanted to herd goats."

"I never wanted to be the Zora King," Ralis said sadly. "I just wanted to catch fish. Zelda never wanted to be the Queen, but her father and brother died and it became her job."

"Brother?" asked Link suddenly. "I never knew she had a brother."

"Yes you did," Valin replied irritably. "Surely you received news in Ordon when both the king and his heir died from a plague, and the new ruler of the country was the Queen."

"Yes, but- oh," replied Link, looking down. "Oh. That's right. I never paid much heed to the news I heard of the royal family when I lived in Ordon, and I never connected… oh, I'm an idiot. He was her twin, wasn't he?"

Valin nodded. "I've heard there's nothing more painful in the world than being parted from them, too. But look what Zelda did. She took up the crown, and though the country fell into darkness, she's been ruling strong ever since it was recovered. So what are you going to do? Hide from the lot which the Goddesses have given you?"

Link was silent for a long time. Then, finally: "What exactly am I going to wear?"

"We were able to get your old armor dug out from the storage vaults," replied Valin with a smile. "We figured it would be best if you were comfortable, at the very least."

"Which armor?" asked the hero guardedly. When Ralis opened the trunk that sat at the foot of Link's bed, the hero blanched. "Oh, no. No, no, no. Definitely not. No way."

"First step to accepting your past, Link," stated Valin merrily, throwing the Hero's Boots at his friend. "Wear the shoes you're given."

**-----------Zelda: The Royal Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Third Night**

Zelda was rather proud of her costume, though technically she wasn't in the costume contest. She'd dressed as a great fairy- her hair had been left down and curled, with small, sparkling jewels tucked into the mass. The wings she wore were gossamer and sparkled every color, trailing down her back like a glimmering translucent cape, and her gown was white, stiff-bodiced and gathered on the side, and embroidered all over with ivy. She'd been dusted with glitter, as well, so whenever the Queen move she shone like the sun. Though she was quite enjoying herself, she'd noticed that Link still hadn't arrived at the ball, and the fact that she even _cared_ increased her already high levels of annoyance and irritation greatly in turn.

She'd just gotten off the dance floor once more and moved to the punch bowl, though this itself was a great endeavor- people were constantly meeting her, greeting her, and wanting to talk to her. Though she was flattered by her subjects' attentiveness, Zelda was starting to get exasperated.

"Dressed as the Great Fairy? That business about her being covered in ivy is a myth. She actually only wears a loincloth, though she has long green hair that covers her modesty. You got the wings right on, though," rumbled a distinctly masculine, notably amused voice from behind Zelda. She spun around and-

Good heavens!

"Link," she gasped, taking him in. "Are you… what's going on?"

"I decided to dress up as myself," stated the Hero calmly, examining his gauntlets.

"Did you get that out of the vault?"

"Valin was so kind as to see to it. I'd forgotten how comfortable this was, and how light," he added with a grimace, plucking at his green tunic. "Almost makes me feel naked."

Zelda stared at Link as he stood in his hero's green clothing and wanted to throw herself upon him- whether make mad love to him or pummel him, she wasn't sure. He looked more like himself than he had since he'd returned to Hyrule; he wore his clothes like a second, fierce skin, and walked tall with pride.

"Well… thank you for informing me about the defects of my costume," managed Zelda finally.

"Not so fast, Princess," said the Hero.

"Queen," she corrected him. "You'll refer to me as 'your highness,' thank you."

"Your highness, thank you, will you dance with me please?" he asked her with a canine grin- a wolf-hero's grin.

"Didn't we go through this last night and it was a catastrophe?" asked the Queen with mock-patience.

"You started it," replied Link with another of his grins. "But I responded to it in a bad way and I shouldn't have. Tonight I'll be a perfect gentleman, though, I promise. Dance with me?"

"I suppose," conceded Zelda, trying for all the world to act resigned but inwardly fluttering in that obnoxious way that she always did whenever Link spoke to her, looked at her, touched her. With a gentle hand on her waist, Link led her out onto the dance floor for a stately promenade.

"So, milady," he began charmingly. "Pray, tell me what I've missed in the past seven years. How has the economy of the country altered?"

"Are you serious?" Zelda asked him as they changed hands.

"Quite. I'm done running from my past, and I want to know what I missed out on so I can have better perspective on what's going on now and what's to come."

Zelda was awestruck. Without much thought to what she was saying, she began to talk- telling him about the balances of power within Hyrule, about her panel, about the council, about the economy, the weather patterns, everything. By the time she'd finished they'd moved from the dance floor to the punch bowl to a small, secluded table outside on the patio. Link had listened intently all the while, interjecting little comments and questions upon occasion. Zelda was feeling quite warm, and she was certain it had nothing to do with the night air- what had happened to Link? What had inspired such a drastic change in him overnight? Perhaps he was up to a trick, thought Zelda, yet from the way his eyes never left her face as she was talking, she couldn't be sure.

One thing she did know, though, was that she'd spent more time with him than was proper.

"Adventurer," she said, standing with the smallest of smiles, "I am glad that this country fascinates you. I must get back to the ball now, though. It has been lovely talking to you," she added.

"And to you," Link replied, calling after her. Zelda produced a small fan from the clever gather on her side (it allowed for a small pocket in which her fan and a knife were safely tucked away) and began to avidly fan herself.

What was it about Link? She couldn't quite bring herself to summon up the anger that had fueled her earlier that week, and yet, she couldn't help but suspect that there was something very much afoot with him.

Sighing and shaking her head, she moved back into the ballroom and immersed herself in the crowd and her duties as Queen, though a small bit of her mind remained fully occupied on the puzzle that was Link.

* * *

Uploaded: 17:20 Central Daylight Time Wednesday, July 4, 2007 


	11. The Start Of Something New

**-----------Malon: The Zora Chambers, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Fourth Afternoon**

"It's working," said Malon from where she sat on a soft cushion. Ralis was floating in the large recess set into the floor; it was filled with water and various aquatic plants and fish, and there was even a short waterfall pouring down the rough rocky chamber wall it was set up against. "They're softening up towards each other."

"Slowly but surely," agreed Valin, who was draped atop a decorative driftwood log, hands grazing over the lush carpet, which was more like thick grass than anything else. "We just need to give them more time. Ralis, what say you to remaining here at court for a while longer after this Gala? Aren't there important matters you need to discuss with the Queen?"

"Some, yes," responded the Zora King. "But Zelda and I are also good friends. Would I not be perfectly justified in remaining for a time to see her for a while? It's not often I can leave my domain."

"Exactly. Ralis wants to stay here. And, Lord Leonas, Earl of Lakewood, wants to catch up on what he has missed in the past four years. What better way to do that than to stay at court?" Valin stated cheerily.

"You two can justify anything, can't you?" asked Malon, torn between amusement, disgust, and awe.

"Yep," replied Valin, pulling at the carpet.

"We just need a way to throw them together a little more," mused Ralis. "Though, Link's going to win the tournament, so I'm sure that'll do something."

"She doesn't like that he's in it," Malon muttered. "She disapproves."

"I talked to her," replied Ralis. "I justified it somewhat to her. The tournament can't be helped, though… say, Valin, how are those seeds coming?"

"They should be here any day," replied the Earl. "With luck, we can get Link to work on the garden by the end of the week."

"I think Zelda would like that," replied Malon. "I know she's been going there in the mornings to walk and relax and watch the flowers- it'll make her very happy that Link has done something so kind for her."

"Let's just hope things continue the way they are between the two of them," Ralis concluded. "Is there anything more we can do at this point?"

"No, I don't think we should try to interfere, for the moment. We'll see what happens and adjust accordingly," Valin stated. "I think a lot of what happens between them will hinge on the ball tonight. So, Ralis and I will do our best to keep Link in a good mood, and Malon…"

"Talk her into not going crazy on him, I know. This has been the longest four days of my life," she added with a weary shake of her head. "Trying to make people fall in love with each other is hard."

"They were in love in the first place," stated the Zora. "They're just too damned proud- and stubborn- to admit it."

"Hopefully that'll change soon," sighed Malon.

"Hopefully," agreed Valin, and the three sat in silence, each absorbed in their thoughts about the most infuriating couple ever to walk the lands of Hyrule.

**-----------Link: The Grand Arena, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Fourth Afternoon**

The Hero of Hyrule had already demolished everyone in the archery contest and was now in the final round of the hand-to-hand combat contest. He'd been sweating in the sun for several hours, and had been in this battle already a few minutes, playing with his opponent and giving the audience a good show. It was hot, though, and the Hero wanted to win, get some Goddess-Forsaken recognition from Zelda, and go inside. So he crouched for a moment and eyed up the opposition, comparing it to what he'd learned in the brief few minutes they'd clashed blades prior to this moment.

Link knew in an instant how to win this battle as he looked at his opponent. The man was tricky and had good defenses, and there was no way Link could get inside them. However, there was a move that would take the man completely by surprise, and Link would defeat him in this way.

The hero of Hyrule quickly backflipped out of the man's range, and, in the blink of an eye, he'd sheathed his sword and shield. The crowd gasped collectively and Zelda stood suddenly from her chair, eyes blazing.

"Link, don't you dare-" she shouted over the sudden noise, but it was too late. His opponent had fallen for the trick and charged Link. Quicker than lightning, Link spun straight into him and drew his blade, dragging the sword across the man's armor with a squeal and butting him in the head with his shield. The man fell back to the ground and in an instant, Link had leapt into the air and landed over the man, sword poised at his throat. The stadium was silent.

"Yield," Link said, voice low. The man looked at him through the visor, shock and awe apparent. Without a second thought he'd dropped his sword and shield in the dirt. Link stepped back and sheathed his sword, and the crowd began to cheer and scream. Link extended his hand and helped the man up from the ground, patting him on the back.

"That was brilliant," said the man, pulling off his helmet. The tiniest trail of blood was leaking from his forehead. "You're amazing."

"Thank you," Link said, also pulling off his helmet. The man grabbed Link's wrist and held it up in the air, which served only to heighten the cheers of the crowd. Link looked around with a grin, and then to Zelda, who was smiling fixedly. The sunshine-haired woman beside Zelda said something to her, and the Queen shook her head. She stepped to the front of the royal box and the crowd quieted.

"I believe it's clear that we have our winner," she proclaimed loudly and with a false joy that Link knew would fool everyone- everyone but him, that was. "Champion, step forward."

Link sheathed his sword and moved towards the royal box, slinging his shield over his back. Zelda unsheathed a thin, ornate blade, and stepped down from the box, into the arena. A few steps later and Link had closed the distance between the two of them- he stood the proper arm's length away, but even still he towered over her.

"That was a cheap move," she muttered so that only his ears might hear.

"It was dramatic and that was what the people wanted," replied Link.

"So you're a player now, catering to the whims of an audience? I can't believe you," she bit back.

"There was honor- I let the man go down with dignity."

"Dignity? He never stood a chance against that. You're cheap, low, and worse than scum."

"Glad you think so highly of me," Link replied with a cheeky grin. Zelda's eyes flashed and for a moment, he though she might slap him. Instead, she stepped back, raising the thin blade. Oh, great, thought Link. She's going to lop off my head in front of all these people.

"Fair warrior," Zelda said, loud enough that her voice carried to all the people around her. "In light of your startling accomplishment- your domination of both the archery and swordplay rounds, I ask of you that you might become one of my knights. Accept you this offer?"

Must've been planned, Link thought as he looked at the Queen- for all that her expression was pleasant, there was a dangerous light in his eyes. He decided that, tempting though it was, just this once he wouldn't mess with her when she was pissed, and especially not before an assembly as large as this one.

"My Queen, I would be honored," Link replied with a humble bow.

"Kneel, then," she commanded. Link sunk to one knee, and Zelda held the blade vertically before her, pommel level with her mouth. "Name thyself, warrior."

"Link of Ordon, Adventurer," he replied, and the crowd began to murmur in recognition. So they'd put two and two together, thought the hero with a grim smile. They'd recognized him for who he was.

"Link of Ordon," repeated Zelda loudly. "Be you that selfsame Link of Ordon who, seven years and six months ago, played a pivotal role in restoring this great kingdom to the graces of peace and smiles of the Goddesses?"

"I am," replied Link, bowing his head. The crowd burst into loud speculation, then silenced as Zelda swung the sword upwards, raising the tip high above her head.

"In light of the services that you have provided my Kingdom with and the prowess of skill you have exhibited within my arena, I dub thee Link Greenhero, Knight of Hyrule. Do you solemnly swear to protect this country, to serve with chivalry, to go forth with balance in your heart to serve the people of this blessed land?"

"I do," intoned Link, the words feeling odd in his mouth. Zelda brought the blade down then and rested it upon his bared head, pushing rather harder than was necessary, though not hard enough to cut.

"Then in power," she said, tapping his head sharply, "in Wisdom," she said, tapping his right shoulder pertly, "and in Courage," she tapped his left shoulder and left a dent in the armor, "you are given rank and station of knighthood. Do you solemnly swear to uphold peace and justice, serve as a pillar of society and execute your duties with goodness and love for Queen and country?"

At this, Link looked up and met Zelda's eyes with his own. "I do."

"Then rise, Sir Greenhero, and be you a knight."

Link stood and the crowd cheered tumultuously. He smiled around at them, and then looked to Zelda, who, too, was smiling, though there was a distinctly hard gleam to it.

"Don't you dare shirk your duties, _Sir Greenhero_. You're tied to this land now, much as you or I might hate it, and though the thought of you being a pillar of society is laughable, at best, I'm afraid that's how things are going to be for you, now."

"Does this mean I get to live in the castle now?" Link asked her avidly. She shot a sideways glare of ice at him and Link felt his spine tingle with alarm and excitement. Oh, yes. She was maaaad.

"You have a number of choices with what to do with your knighthood which my assistant will discuss with you later. As for now, though, it would be best if you escorted me to the royal box, and then stayed as far away from me as possible."

"But what if I like being around you?" Link asked cheekily, offering Zelda his arm. As she took it, the crowd went wild.

"Don't try me, _Sir Greenhero_," she replied icily. Link handed her up into the box, and she smiled sweetly at him one last time. "Get out of my sight."

With a bow, he strode charmingly away, smirking as he left a beautiful, furious Queen fuming in his wake.

**-----------Zelda: The Royal Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Fourth Night**

"The Queen _has_ to dance with her new knight, though," protested Tetra. "The people will think something's afoot if you don't."

"There _is_ something afoot," fumed Zelda, pacing around the empty ballroom and watching the servants put the finishing touches on the decorations. After the tournament earlier that day, she'd been so incensed she'd gone straight to work getting ready for the ball, then gone down to watch the preparations, to give her something to distract herself with. So far it wasn't working. "I just knighted a slimebag!!"

"You two were getting along fine last night," commented the Queen's assistant, who looked lovely in a blue ballgown reminiscent of the sea. Her hair had been pulled back into a thick twist atop her head, and overall she looked like a beautiful, fey mermaid. "What changed?"

"He shouldn't have entered the tournament! Did you see what he- how he beat that poor man? He used the mortal draw! He's a lowdown, cheap scumbag."

"It was amazing to watch, though," commented Tetra. "One second he was defenseless, and the next he'd won."

"I don't care! That move isn't… it isn't some dumb party trick. It's dangerous. 'Don't use this unless you're absolutely desperate,' is what he told me when he taught it to me seven years ago, and now look at him. Parading it about like a simple parry! Now people are going to want to learn it… they're going to try to figure it out, and get themselves hurt or killed in the process. It's a last, desperate resort, and he's irresponsibly flaunting his abilities and knowledge as the hero to use it against a defenseless opponent."

"That man wasn't defenseless," defended Tetra.

"Oh, yes he was. In the face of the hero's knowledge and gifts? He might as well not have had a sword or a shield." At this, Tetra was quiet.

"He made a bad decision," the Queen's assistant finally ceded. "But that doesn't mean you can justifiably punish him for it. Just… dance with him once. After that, you don't need to talk to him, or even look at him. After tonight, hopefully you won't have to deal with him anymore."

"Did you present his options to him?"

"I did. He told me he would think them over, but he seemed to like the idea of executing your will throughout the countryside."

At this, Zelda snorted. "He would, the ass."

"It's a wonder that he sets you on edge as much as he does," Tetra commented. "You're the most serene woman I've ever encountered, but the second that man gets within visibility range…"

"He brings out the worst in me," admitted Zelda, crossing her sapphire gloves over her skirt. "I'm a little ashamed of that, but that's just the way things are between us."

"I'm sorry," stated Tetra quietly, for lack of a better thing to say.

"Don't be," shrugged Zelda. She looked up and caught her reflection in the great mirrors that had been used to decorate tonight and smiled for a moment. It was the final night of the gala, for which she'd saved her best dress, and she looked beautiful. She'd been draped, shoulders to toes, in blue fabric so deep and dark it might be black, though when the light caught it just so, it shimmered with tones of green. The top was stiff and sculpted to her form, as usual, low-cut and flirtatious. The skirt was not full- instead, it clung to her every curve and swirled around her feet at the floor. The only break in the darkness of her gown was a shimmering, pure white sash draped elegantly below her waistline and tied at her hip, providing a shocking contrast. The fabric of both the gown and the sash seemed unreal- it moved almost like water, and Zelda had had companion gloves tailor made. Her hair had been curled and every last, heavy inch of it was piled atop her head and strung with pearls, which were shocking in the dark golden mass and matched the white sash around her waist, negating the darkness of her attire. In her hair, too, had been tucked a sapphire-blue lily, which masked her in a sweet scent wherever she moved.

"You look beautiful. You've outdone yourself tonight," complimented Tetra. Zelda smiled at her assistant, then, even as the servants began to file out of the ballroom.

"Thank you. You, too, are beautiful. Come, let's go to the small waiting room across the hall so that we might make an entrance."

"Of course, your majesty," deferred Tetra, and without further ado, the Queen led her friend away.

**-----------Link: The Royal Ballroom, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Queen's Gala: Fourth Night**

The room was awash with people in their finest, dancing and drinking and generally making merry on the final night of the ball. The winner of the costume contest had been announced- some young duchess who had thought to flatter the Queen by going as her- and the Duchess had been granted a handsome sum in reward, as well as a warm invite by the Queen to abide for a time at Chateau Hylia next time she went.

Link knew the Queen's anger and had taken care to stay far from her. He'd done nothing but incense her out in the arena and Valin and Ralis had nearly chewed his ear off yelling at him about blowing his chances with her. So, he decided he'd lay low for a bit, disappear off to do the Queen's dirty work out in the countryside, and come back when it was safe. Perhaps he was running from his problems again, but, well, clearly he was unwanted in the palace. All he ever did was make trouble for the Queen anyway, and who wanted that?

Link had been attempting to lurk in and around the vicinity of the punch bowl (and perhaps he'd consumed rather too much of the punch than he should have) however people kept dragging him away… especially women. As the Queen's new knight, and more, the Hero of Hyrule, simply everyone had to meet him, all the mothers had to introduce him to their eligible daughters and then of course Link was obligated to dance with said daughters…

A nasty headache was coming on for Link and he'd taken to a dark corner outside to nurse both it and another glass of that intoxicating punch. The rustle of a woman's dress alerted him, but without looking up he held up a hand.

"My most sincere apologies, Madam, but I fear I am currently indisposed. I would love to entertain you any other time but I fear I am not fit company at current."

"You're a wreck," came an all-too-familiar woman's voice. "Had too much punch?"

"No," replied Link defensively, taking another sip of his glass, though the buzzing in his head informed him that yes, he _had_ had too much punch- or, at least, had enough and needed no more. With a smile that could have been one of pity, Zelda took his glass from him.

"You need water," the Queen informed him sagely. "Wait right here. I'll return shortly."

The alcohol distorted Link's perception of time- it could have been ten seconds, ten minutes, or ten hours later when Zelda reappeared, sitting beside him. His vision was a little blurry, he knew his eyes must be red and unfocused.

"Drink this," Zelda told him, carefully handing him the glass. "Every last drop, but you don't have to drink it very quickly. When you've drank it down a little, we're going to go somewhere private."

"We are private," stated Link blearily, looking over at Zelda with a slight loll of his head. "There's nobody here."

"But somebody could come here, that's the thing. We're going just around the corner."

"Alright." Link cupped the sweating glass between his hands, enjoying the cool sensation of it on his palms, and then, after a moment, took several deep sips.

"Good," said Zelda soothingly as he drank. "Good, good."

"I'm not smashed," Link informed her simply.

"Just getting there, I know," Zelda replied, touching his brow softly. "Why? Why so much punch?"

"'Cause I'm an idiot." Link took another deep gulp, and Zelda chuckled. "Well, that's the first part, anyway."

"Well, I'm not contesting that you're an idiot," replied the Queen simply. "But I think it's time to move. Come on, Link. Up." She stood and firmly pulled him up, then guided him carefully through the garden, which had been lit by soft fairy lanterns strung ornately about. They turned a corner into blackness and kept walking.

"Won't you be missed?" Link asked her groggily.

"No, Link. The ball is almost over," she told him quietly. "Only a few people remain. Come on, I'm going to take care of you. Keep walking, and don't spill that water." They were walking in pitch darkness, it seemed, but Zelda had him by the elbow and was guiding him gently around turns. A breeze caused the leaves around them to rustle, and Link realized they must be in a maze.

"Almost there," she told him. A hand on a gate, a whispered word, and they were in a part of the courtyard that was, if possible, darker than the one they'd been in before. They walked, turning corners for a few more moments, and at last came the long anticipated "here we are" as they turned a corner into a simple courtyard. Glittering night-blooming flowers spilled from a planter set into one of the stone walls, and two torches spluttered on either side of a wooden door. Other than that, the courtyard was empty, save for a single stone bench. Zelda didn't take him to the bench, though- she led him to a soft patch of grass and bade him sit.

"Where are we?" Link asked her, looking around the small courtyard.

"We're in the Royal Family's private courtyard. It's a kind of private haven… or, more sanctuary now. Traditionally it's been beautiful here, but after Ganondorf destroyed the castle, I haven't been able to justify spending the taxpayers' money on a purely selfish spend when some of my people are poor and starving."

"Ah," replied Link, reclining in the soft grass. "So, then, why have you brought me here? I thought you were pissed."

"I am- well, was, until I saw how sad you looked. Your friend Valin has been… kidnapped by my maid, for lack of a better term, and Ralis is unwell- he spent too much time out of water, I think. Needless to say, they've both retired, and you need taking care of.

"I'm fine," replied Link with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I could get back to my chambers like this, noooo problem. Really, I'm not even smashed, especially considering what night it is. Seven years exactly since I made the biggest, dumbest mistake of my life!"

"And that was?" Zelda asked, sitting beside Link and looking at him.

"Leaving you," he replied with a smile.

"I'm touched," Zelda stated wryly. "You know you could have just come back to Hyrule after all."

"No I couldn't have. At first I was just trying to scrounge up enough money that I could ask you to marry me and nobody could say nay. But by the time I had enough I was a long way from Hyrule… and it had been several years since then and I'd figured you'd probably moved on… married some rich prince, forgotten that a goat herder from Ordon had ever loved you, had ever existed."

"Never could I have forgotten about you," Zelda told him, taking his face in her hands. "You didn't just save Hyrule, you saved _me_. Listen- I was overcome with grief before I met you, I'd lost my wonderful father, my beloved twin brother, and my kingdom. I didn't think I had anything left to live for… but just before I gave up all hope of happiness, you appeared in my life an and rekindled that prayer."

"But you loved me for what I did, not who I was," Link stated sadly.

"At first, yes. I was naive, I'll admit. But then ,after the war ended, I got to know you- Link, the man, the goat herder who had risked everything to save his loved ones, and restored a Kingdom to glory in the process. I loved you then for all the things you were- as a man first, not as a hero."

"But now you hate me."

"Link, if I hated you, would I be sitting with you in the dark taking care of your irresponsible, inebriated person?"

"Speaking of which, how do you know I'm not an angry drunk?"

"You seem pretty docile to me," noted Zelda playfully,.

"I am not docile! he protested, appalled. "I am about…. about as docile as a raging Ordon goat!" As if to prove his point, Link suddenly turned and, in a swift movement, had pinned Zelda underneath him. She blinked up at him, unfazed, as he asked her in a low voice, "How's this for docile?" He lowered his face to hers, so close their skin was touching, and as she replied her lips brushed tantalizingly against his own.

"You're going to ruin my hair, my dress, and my reputation, Sir Greenhero."

"I'm sorry I'm an inconsiderate ass," he murmured, though she could tell his words were genuine as he kissed her left jawbone gently, "And I'm sorry I've caused you so much frustration and grief," he added kissing her other cheek. "If it makes you feel better, I'm going to leave the castle in the morning."

"Oh no you aren't," Zelda replied, catching his chin and forcing him to look at her. "_You_ make too much trouble. No sir- you're staying right here, where I can keep an eye on you. Queen's orders," she added firmly as she released his chin.

"We both know I want only to please my Queen," he said in a husky voice, lowering his face to Zelda's neck and gently biting the skin there.

"Oh- well- you're doing a rather good job of it, but… Link, you're drunk…"

"And?"

Zelda struggled out from underneath him, pushing him off her though she did so with regret. "You're drunk," she repeated more firmly. "You need bread, water, and sleep. And…. and we can talk tomorrow. About this, and other things. Promise me you won't leave?"

"I promise," he responded, feeling more certain, more clear, more sober than he had for hours as he looked into her eyes. "I swear by the Goddesses. I'll stay with you this time."

"Thank you, Link," she replied, and stood. Link watched her for a moment, and, when it was clear she was waiting for him, he stood as well. Zelda put her hand underneath his elbow as though she was guiding him, and moved into the palace. Link saw a guard approach them and heard Zelda address him.

"Guard, my friend here has had a bit too much to drink. Kindly, would you safely see him back to his rooms in the guest quarters? He is a particular of King Ralis."

"Right away, Your Highness," replied the Guard with a respectful salute. He then took Link, gently, and guided him away. Link looked over his shoulder and watched Zelda as he retreated. She was standing, straight and prim, looking regal as ever with her hands crossed before her as she watched Link go. He couldn't help but think of how much he loved her, how much he hoped to make her his, and then in a haze of no time he was back in his room, then in his bed, then falling asleep.

* * *

Uploaded: 17:20 Central Daylight Time Wednesday, July 4, 2007 


	12. A Terrible Mistake

**A/N: I know this is an infuriatingly short update, but fear not! The end is soon to come!! Maybe. Hehehehehhe. Review!!!!**

**-----------Zelda: The Royal Gardens and Queen's Office, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Seven years and seven months since Ganondorf's defeat**

Much to Zelda's frustration, after Link's little episode with the alcoholic punch, things between them remained almost stagnant. He was nice and mean to her in turn, though more often kind than not. She put up with his spite when it came, though, for his actions spoke louder than his words- not three days after she had told him about her hopes for the gardens, new flowers began to appear, as well as mounds of upturned dirt that could only inevitably be planted seeds. On nights when she found it difficult to sleep, the soft sounds of an ocarina often floated to her through the windows, lulling her to sweet slumber; she knew who it was who played that instrument under the stars.

Castle Town was a more peaceful place since Link's arrival, if such a thing were possible for the already peaceful and prospering market town. Upon occasion, Link would vanish for a day or two, but each time he did Alyz would always report back to her about his heroics in some town or other. Zelda would never have admitted it to his face, but she was proud of him, and more- for all that he was unkind upon occasion, she recognized it for the shyness it was, and each day she felt she was coming to love that obstinate, annoying, painfully attractive man exponentially more.

About three and a half weeks after the end of the Gala, disaster struck Hyrule. It had been a drier summer- drier than most, though when it came, their reprieve from the endless heat and thirst was a double edge blade- a storm rolled in from Termina and destroyed many of the crops in the northern part of the country. Faced with a potential famine, Zelda all but barricaded herself in her office and tried to figure out how to make ends meet in Hyrule- could they rely on commerce with Termina? Would they have to make sacrifices in terms of livestock? Go hungry? If possible, they could rely on increased intake of fish and fowl from the lake province, but Zelda didn't want to risk heavily damaging any resources. She'd consulted Ralis on this and several town leaders as well; she drew up plans, plans, and more plans; crop plans, backup plans, worst-case-scenario plans and so on.

It had been a bad week for the Queen and Zelda was exhausted and upset. She was taking a well-earned break in the garden, worrying over the fate of many of her people, blinking in delirium at the hedges, as she'd been so busy working and worrying that she'd only gotten an hour of two of sleep a night, if that. Though nothing really could be done now and though her plans were already being implemented (she'd authorized planting on extensive royal properties), Zelda found herself worrying, though those around her advised her to relax.

Well, she was _trying_ to relax- that was why she was in the garden, after all. She took in the beauty of the flowers that Link had planted for her; the new buds, the growing seeds, and was feeling almost content when she heard Link's voice. Curious, she moved in the direction it wafted out from. When she saw he was talking with one of the scullery girls, she hid behind a flowering bush and listened.

"…I'm afraid I can't do that for you, sir," said the maid a little nervously.

"How much do I need to pay you?"

"Sir, it's not that, just-"

"Fifty rupees?"

"If someone found me out, it could mean my life, sir... at the very least, my job and my respectability within this country."

"You won't get found out, and if you do… consider yourself performing an act of love. They can't get you for that. Seventy rupees?"

"I…. alright. When?"

"I'll send my man to you."

"Well… which bedroom?"

Link leaned in close and whispered something in her ear with a triumphant smile. As he did so, Zelda recoiled, clutching her hands over her mouth. Had he just…

Did he…

He had, hadn't he.

What else could it have been? He'd obviously persuaded her to do something risky, something against her morals, offered her money… given her the time, a bedroom…. it was clear he was going to pay her for sex. In a moment, Zelda felt her heart breaking. She fled the garden and hurried to her chambers, where Tetra and Malon were discussing something- as she entered and slammed the door behind her, they looked up in surprise.

"Highness? What's wrong?" Malon asked, standing as the Queen began to pace back and forth.

Tetra's eyes widened in alarm. "Has more news come? Did something else happen?"

"Link…. Link's paying the scullery maids for… for…." she paused, taking a deep breath. "I overheard him in the garden. He propositioned her- this has probably been going on for some time, too… he seemed to know exactly what to say to convince her to…. Malon, Tetra," Zelda said to her two closest friends in the world, voice tinged with desperation, as she moved to a bench and dropped, seating herself with a slouch, "I've got to get out of here. I just can't take it anymore." And, for the first time in more than seven years, the matriarch of Hyrule burst into tears.

"Calm down, it's okay," Malon said soothingly, seating herself on one side of Zelda while Tetra sat down on the other. The two women wrapped their arms around their desperate friend, each confused but trying her hardest to provide comfort to the woman who was the rock of her entire country. "I'm sure a leave can be arranged."

"You haven't taken a break once since reclaiming your throne, and we're coming up on eight years now. It would be perfectly fine if you wanted a little leave, especially considering how hard you've been working lately," consoled Tetra. "Don't worry, I'm sure I can have you out of here within the next week. Where would you like to go?" she asked gently. "Chateau Hylia?"

Sniffling, Zelda looked up. "No," she replied meekly. She cast her mind about, and landed on Lake Hylia- she'd been there a few times before on very short visits and had always wanted to stay longer. "Do you think you can get me a cabin out on the lake? With only one guard? I just want to be normal Zelda for a while."

"Hm," murmured Tetra. "Security won't like that..." as Zelda began to sniff again, Tetra hastily added, "but we all know that you can more than take care of yourself." She was quiet for a moment, thoughtful. And then, at last: "Alright. I'll arrange to get you smuggled out of here as soon as possible- I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Tetra," replied Zelda with a watery smile.

**-----------Link: Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Seven years, seven months and one week since Ganondorf's defeat**

It had been more than a day since Link had seen or heard of Zelda, which was unusual- when he asked Valin, the dark-haired earl shrugged and said he hadn't seen her and that he'd ask Malon what was up. It seemed that Valin had met his match in the feisty redhead- though they'd only been "together" a little more than a month, Valin was already thinking about proposing to her, going ring shopping, and making Link jealous. Though Link was happy for his friend, he couldn't help but wish for the same thing between Zelda and himself- and he kept blowing it! Why was he so self-conscious around her? Why did he always make quips at her, even when she didn't deserve them? And she was always so good to him in return- he almost hated himself for it. No, sometimes he did hate himself for it. But Goddesses, he was trying to be a good man for Zelda! He really was.

Ralis didn't know where Zelda was either, and Link felt bad for disturbing the Zora King- he was busy writing letters to his people and to his representatives at Lake Hylia trying to rectify the terrible crop crisis. Link knew that they had Zelda to thank for the brilliant food replacement plans she'd conceived, and he'd seen how hard she was working and how much she was suffering. That's why he'd bribed a maid to put flowers in her room one morning- he'd hoped she would like the surprise. When Link caught a glimpse of Zelda the next day, though, she looked harried and hollow- had something else happened that he wasn't aware of?

That had been several days ago, and Link had caught a glimpse of her here, a word of her there, then nothing. He was starting to get- no, beyond starting, he _was_ concerned, he wanted to help. After being shrugged off by his superiors in the knighthood multiple times for his inquiries (difficult as it was to believe that he even _had_ superiors), Link finally snapped and went and found that woman who was Zelda's assistant- Tetra, that was her name. It was difficult to find that woman: it took him a long time, even, but he located her at last as she was hurrying from one meeting to another, almost as though she were in the Queen's stead.

"Go away, you," barked Tetra to Link as though to a dog. The hero stepped back, taken aback, and then looked at her oddly.

"I'm sorry- have I done something wrong?"

"I'll tell you what, you filthy piece of slime. You've made yourself unwelcome here and defiled the Queen and the maids here at the castle, not to mention god knows how many other women. You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"What did I do?" Link asked, genuinely confused. "Please, tell me. Where is Zelda? Is something wrong?"

Tetra was obviously impatient to be away from him as she put her hand on her hips. "Let me ask you this: did you or did you not bribe one of the maids for sexual favors?"

"What? No, I would never!" He knew his disgust and horror showed openly- all the better. Where had they gotten an idea like that?! "I swear, I only paid one maid, and that was to sneak flowers into Zelda's room!"

"Yes, and pigs can fly. Tell the truth, Greenhero. Did you?"

"I would not! You can even ask the maid if you don't believe me!" Link racked his brain and made use of the memory he'd honed to razor sharpness. "Her name is Medli Wingsage, she works in the scullery. She met me in the garden for five minutes a quarter of an hour past three four days ago. That night, I sent Valin to the maids' dorms with a bouquet of flowers. Medli snuck them into Zelda's room the next morning while the Queen was out for her morning arena practice. There was nothing underhanded about it- I saw how hard Zelda had been working and how distressed she was and I thought to give her something to feel better… I meant no harm by it. Where is she?"

"You're really telling the truth, aren't you?" asked Tetra. She now seemed hollow, unhappy. "And… oh, Goddesses. Sir Greenhero, the Queen overheard you asking the maid in the garden to sneak the flowers into her room, but she only heard a part of the conversation, and believed that you were... ah... propositioning her. With all the recent stress, the Queen decided it was high time she took a small vacation, and departed from Hyrule Castle a few nights ago."

"Where is she now? Where can I find her? I have to talk to her," Link said urgently. Tetra looked as though she were rent apart by indecision.

"I can't tell you, Sir Greenhero. I am sorry. Though, you may want to check… Goddesses. Come in here," Tetra said, and pulled Link into a small side-room. It was a cluttered office- who used it, Link didn't know. "I'm not going to tell you where she is because I feel like you've been a real jerk to her. But I'll give you a clue, because I can tell you care about her, which is a start. This place is remotely connected to the palace and we smuggled her out through a part of it. The sun can't be seen for long during the day where she is, though the light lasts as long as it would otherwise. Most importantly, the ruins of an ancient hell are on her horizon. That's all." Before Link could get in a word or question, Tetra had slipped away from him, out of the office, and though he followed she was hurrying down the hall.

Connected to the palace? Difficult to see the sun? Hell?

It hit him on the head like a falling brick. She was at the lake!

Link hurried to the guest chambers, scrawled a note for Valin (_Gone to lake, if anyone comes looking for me lie about where I am. -L_) and grabbed a few of his small things he'd need, sword and shield included, of course. Without further ado, he went to the stables, saddled up Epona, and rode west.

* * *

Uploaded: 15:00 Central Daylight Time Thursday, July 5, 2007 


	13. Healing

** A/N: Well, this is it! Sorry I didn't get it to y'all earlier today, I've been swamped. In fact, I am about to pass out. So, enjoy, and appreciate that I pushed myself to the limits of my sleep-deprived endurance to stay up and post this. Without further ado... I proudly present to all of you THE END.  
**

**-----------Zelda: An Old Cottage, Lake Hylia**

**-----------Seven years, seven months and one week since Ganondorf's defeat**

It had only been a week since Zelda left the castle, smuggled out by waterway only two nights after her breakdown, but already she felt like a different woman. Tetra had done well- she'd found Zelda a small, secluded cabin on the outskirts of the lake, far from civilization or disturbance. Neither Zelda's maid nor her assistant were with her, and though she sorely missed them both, she found she quite enjoyed her new freedoms. Gone were the stuffy gowns, the painful hairstyles- each morning, Zelda rose at whatever hour she felt like, donned a simple linen gown, and let her hair fall loose around her shoulders. Her guard was a young man named Sheik- one of the Sheikah, and as such, Zelda had only seen him a handful of times since leaving the castle. She was quite content in her solitude- for what was the first time in a long time, she was free to do and act as she pleased, and be alone in her thoughts.

She was humming contentedly in the garden, admiring the flowers set against the sparkling blue backdrop of the lake and the sky when a splash alerted her. Suddenly and unexpectedly, Link surfaced from the water, and just as suddenly, Sheik appeared from seemingly nowhere, taking the man by surprise and pinning him to the ground.

"What in the Evil Realm are you doing here, Link?!" Zelda yelled at him as Sheik passively and effectively pinned Link's arms to his back.

"I came to see you! Get off me," he added violently to Sheik, trying to rock out of his grasp, to no avail.

"You're not wanted here," Zelda said angrily as she took in the man who had been the bane of her existence for the past month. "In fact, you're the LAST person I want to see right now. Leave."

"But... one day you were there at the palace, and the next you were gone! I was worried I'd lost you!"

"You never had me in the first place!" Zelda informed him vehemently. "And it was you, Link, that drove me to the breakdown that forced me to come all the way out here, if you _must_ know."

There was an explosive silence as Link took in what she'd said. "Breakdown? You?!" Link's face was shaken . Zelda looked at Sheik, who silently awaited her instructions. She tilted her head to the side quickly and in the blink of an eye he was off Link and gone. "You had a breakdown because... because of me?" He asked as he stood. "You left?"

"Because of you." It was a cold confirmation, a slap to the face. "Now if you'll excuse me, _Link_, I was enjoying myself before you arrived." She turned on her heel and made to walk away, seething with fury and hurt.

"Zelda." It was one word, broken, full of pain; it stopped the Queen dead in her tracks. She stiffened as Link came to stand behind her, hands on her shoulders. His damp clothes were wetting her linen dress- she should say something, she thought to herself, but she couldn't find words. "I never meant..." he began, then cut himself off with a bitter laugh. "Goddesses, I'm so stupid! We've both been hurt so badly, and all because I'm a blazing idiot who's too proud for his own good. I'm so sorry, Zelda... I'm sorrier than you can possibly imagine for all the things I have done wrong."

"And what brings about this change of heart?" Zelda asked coldly. "Why do you care if you've hurt me? You've gone to great extents to make it clear you despise me- why the change? Is this another ploy to cause me grief?"

"No! No, I would... I wouldn't do something like this. I wouldn't make you believe I was sorry if I wasn't. Zelda, I don't despise you," he said sadly. "Anything but."

"Why exactly have you come?" she asked him hollowly.

"Because I love you."

Zelda stiffened in Link's arms as joy and sorrow rent her heart in two. He loved her! And she loved him back, but she still hurt so badly from all that had passed between them.

"I saw you in the garden with a girl," she murmured quietly, voicing the first appropriate thought that came to mind. "You were trying to pay her for sex."

"What?" there was a note of genuine confusion in Link's voice, and then- "oh. Oh, no. Zelda, I would never do something like that." He sounded sincere and horrified at the idea, but Zelda couldn't be certain. "I was bribing her to put flowers from me in your room."

"You truly love me?" asked Zelda, though she didn't turn to face Link. She knew what she had to do, now- it hurt her, pained her, and the very thought of it caused hot tears to course down her cheeks. But as Link had tested her and broken her, so would she test Link. She just prayed he would make the right decision.

"Yes," Link said eagerly with a small, excited laugh. "Yes, I _do_ truly love you. Yes, with all my heart."

"Prove it," she murmured. As Link began to gently push, trying to turn her around, she raised a hand and stopped him.

"What- Zelda, are you crying? What's wrong?"

"If you love me as you say," she murmured, turning her face to the sky, "do what is best by me and leave. Leave, and let me go on living my life thinking you dead. Believing that you were waiting for me at the gates to the Holy Realm would be easier than living and wondering if you were going to hurt me again as you have already..." her words cut off as she choked up with tears and she buried her head in her hands. Goddesses, but it was killing her, to ask such a thing of him- and she was scared, so scared, that he'd go.

Link stiffened- his hands tightened on her shoulders. For an unbearable minute, silence stretched out between them, punctuated only by the soft sighs of the lake and Zelda's muffled little breaths.

"Go!" she finally burst with an anguished yell, and she let forth her sobs, crying as though she were dying- which, on the inside, she felt she was.

"No," Link whispered, horrified. "No," he said again, voice stronger this time, though strangled. In a single moment, Link wrapped his arms around Zelda, holding onto her as though he would never let go. "You can ask anything of me but that. No. I'm not leaving."

"Link..." she started, voice pained and aching, thick with tears and sadness. "After all that's happened..."

"I won't," he insisted a little louder, cutting her off. He laughed hollowly then. "I'm the dumbest man in creation, but that doesn't mean I'm dumb enough to make the same mistake twice. I left you once and it nearly killed me- nearly killed us both, it seems. Listen to me," he told her, voice a little softer as he turned her to face him, brushing her hair behind her ears. Zelda kept her red, teary eyes lowered- she didn't want to show him the hope and pain that laid there. Not yet. "I left you once and it was a mistake I regretted more than anything. You can scream at me, beat on me, curse me to the ends of the Evil Realm, and I'll take it. The one thing I won't take quietly, the one thing I won't do- I'll _never_ do- is leave you. Never again."

She exhaled. He'd made the right choice.

"You won't leave me?" she asked him in a little voice. It seemed to her that understanding dawned on him in that moment- he chuckled.

"Never- not even if I were banished. An army of a thousand couldn't keep me away from you."

"Goddesses, Link, you're an idiot," Zelda murmured, even as she relaxed a little in his embrace.

"Yes, but I'm your idiot, if you'll have me," he told her fondly, cupping her cheek with his hand. Zelda stiffened and a sudden silence fell between them. Was... was that... had he... did he just...? Her heart beat rapidly within her chest and her breathing quickened. He wasn't going to leave her- he'd said he'd never leave her again, and she believed him... and yet, how could she be truly certain his feelings were what he claimed?

"You don't just want to be king, do you?" she asked his shoes quietly. Link sighed, dropping his hand from her cheek to her chin and tilting it up so she had to look him squarely in the eyes. The love and tenderness Zelda saw there was more than enough to allay the last of her fears. She'd seen many deceptions in her life, but she knew that the way Link was looking at her now couldn't be faked.

"Zelda, if you want to simply take me as your consort and give me no money and make me wear rags, I'd be more than happy to take the position, just as long as it guaranteed that I'd never have to leave you."

"So... that was a marriage proposal, then," observed Zelda a little nonchalantly even as Link lovingly wiped away the last traces of tears from her cheeks.

"It was," agreed Link. Zelda studied his face in decided concentration for a few moments, then sighed.

"You're the only person I could ever seriously consider marrying," she said simply. "Nobody else could beat me in the arena."

"Which is why you put the rule down in the first place," teased Link.

"Yes," admitted Zelda frankly. "You've probably figured out, then, that I love you... have loved you for a while."

"I had my doubts for a while there," murmured Link, drawing Zelda into an embrace. "It's so wonderful to hear you say it, though. Say it again."

"I love you," whispered Zelda against his shoulder. Her hands ran across his back for a moment, then stilled. "And since I love you, you really shouldn't take this too personally, but..." Zelda stepped out of Link's embrace. As he looked up at her in confusion, the sound of Zelda's slap echoed across the tranquil waters of the lake.

"You're the most stupid man alive and if you think even for a second you're getting off easy with me, you're wrong! Goddesses, it's a wonder someone hasn't beat you to death already, you knuckle head! You're the most oblivious, idiotic, irritating, obnoxious, tiresome specimen of the male species and I, for one, can't stand you-"

"But you love me," Link cut in with a cheeky grin.

"Shut up!" fumed Zelda. "Of course I do- Nayru knows why! But then there's the matter of your all-consuming arrogance, your positively obnoxious elitism, your boneheaded idiocy and your bedamned hero complex..." she paused for a moment, catching her breath, and Link quirked a brow at her.

"You done yet?" he asked her, having endured her raging with interest and attention but no discernible regret.

"No I'm not done yet! You're so impatient, you know that? And you're low-down, and an idiot... have I mentioned that you're an idiot?"

"Several times now. Zelda?"

"Let me finish, will you?" she raved, glaring at him. He smiled and, before Zelda could return to her tirade, he'd caught her around the waist and kissed her passionately enough to shut up even the angriest of women.

"Oh, my..." she murmured a good deal of time later when Link finally broke the kiss.

"I love you," Link whispered against her cheek, kissing the skin fondly and moving back with a grin. "Are you still mad at me?"

"Mad? I was mad at you?" Zelda repeated a little stupidly, blinking a few times in an effort to shake off the daze of Link's masterful kisses. "Yes, I was! You're a low-down, foul, cheating, lecherous..."

Link stopped her abruptly with another of his mind-blowing kisses; it was a very, very considerable amount of time later when Zelda was able to put two thoughts together and come out with something coherent.

"You know," she said into the nape of his neck, "that's not always going to work on me."

"Guess I'll have to be creative, then," he murmured, voice low and exciting as he ran a hand languidly up the side of Zelda's body.

"Link!" she squirmed away. "That's positively improper!"

"We're to be married, aren't we?" he asked her casually, though his eyes were alight with love and something else that made Zelda's pulse run hotter.

"Not quite yet. You still have to beat me in front of my people, you know."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," he teased her, nuzzling her hair in a distinctly canine manner.

"You are going to have to fight for it," she informed him with a laugh.

"But you're going to take it easy on poor little me, right?" asked Link with mock fear and concern.

At this, Zelda smiled and shrugged, eyes drifting out over the lake. "We'll see."

**-----------Link: The Grand Arena, Hyrule Castle**

**-----------Seven years and eight months since Ganondorf's defeat**

"I thought you wanted to marry me!" yelped Link, ducking away from a particularly lethal swipe of Zelda's blade.

"I do!" she yelled back, spinning and parrying Link's feint. "but that doesn't mean you get off easy, remember? You pissed me off, and besides, I'm the Queen of Hyrule, or had you forgotten? I'm notorious for being painfully fair."

"I didn't earn this punishment," Link replied, catching Zelda's blade against his own and pushing her back.

"You're right," she said, dropping her guard. "You earned more." As he charged her she nimbly stepped behind him and bonked him gently on the helm with the pommel of her sword. "Stupid."

"No, smart," he replied, and in a second he'd spun his entire body about, bringing his sword crashing against Zelda's armor and knocking her to the ground. He poised the tip of his blade at her throat.

"I win," he gloated. Zelda smiled at him and dropped her sword.

"This round, you mean. You still have to beat me at archery, hand-to-hand, and melee."

"I can't wait," he replied as the crowd cheered uproariously. He pulled Zelda up and she grinned at him.

"You're an ass," she informed him candidly as two servants came to take Link and Zelda's weapons and armor away and bring them bows and a quiver. In what felt like the blink of an eye, the archery range had been set up and the Queen and her soon-to-be fiancee stood several hundred feet away from a very small target.

"Ladies first," stated Link, all chivalry and charm. With a mock-glare, Zelda drew the bow, took careful aim, and shot, landing her arrow dead-center. The crowd gasped, even as Link grinned down at Zelda. "Easy as pie." Without even aiming he nocked the arrow, drew the bow, loosed it, and in a cracking, splintering of wood, Zelda's arrow was shorn clean in half. The spectators began to cheer wildly, and Zelda shrugged her slender shoulders.

"You're going to beat me without blinking, aren't you, jerk?"

"Consider it a show of my love," Link told her as their equipment was taken away and the target was removed from the arena. They stood across from each other, bowed, and waited. A bell rang and they'd begun the hand-to-hand combat. "So, has anyone ever gotten this far before?" Link asked Zelda as he threw several punches, all of which she blocked.

"Nope." She swept her leg around but he nimbly jumped over it, then ducked a punch. "I've never had anyone last past round one."

"I must just be really special, then." Punch, dodge, kick, spin, jump, sweep.

"You're winning in a battle against the Queen and she doesn't seem all too perturbed by it. I'll let you draw the conclusions for yourself- oof!" Her concentration slipped for the faintest moment and Zelda found herself suddenly pinned to the ground and unable to move.

"I win, again," he told her, smiling down at her. Sweaty hair clung to her face and neck and her chest was heaving rapidly as she looked up at him.

"Cheap shot," she replied, breathless, eyes hot on his. He winked at her and stood, and the crowd, yet again, began to cheer madly.

"Three down, one to go, and then it's official."

"Should I just not even bother?" asked Zelda with a shrug and a helpless sigh.

"No," Link told her with a grin. "I want you to fight me with all you've got so that you can't bitch and moan about being tied down to me later."

"Link, watch your language," Zelda chastised as they were fitted with loose protective equipment and presented with a choice of weapons. Link chose a long spear after a long moment, and when he saw what weapon Zelda had selected he felt his stomach drop clear out of his body.

She grinned at him and cracked her whip. As soon as the servants were out of range, they were off.

The day was warm and the arena stands were packed, though the faintest autumnal air blew in from the east. Zelda swung the whip at Link and he nimbly dodged. He jabbed, missed, ducked and rolled out of Zelda's way, then caught the whip on his spear the next time she cracked it at him. With a swift jerk he'd pulled the thing out of her hands and had the tip of the spear pointed at her throat.

The whole four battles had only taken twenty minutes, start to end.

The arena was silent until Zelda smiled, putting up her hands. As the crowd burst into cheers, Link smiled too, dropping his spear, and in a moment he had Zelda in his arms.

"Link!" she laughed, even as he dipped her low for a kiss. Another great cheer went up and not a few wolf whistles followed this debacle as Zelda wrapped her arms around Link's neck, kissing him passionately back.

"I love you," he said to her as he pulled away.

"I love you too," she replied, and straightened up, then glanced at him quizzically as he backed away. Link only smiled at her, then sank onto one knee, taking her hands in his. A sudden hush fell out of the crowd.

"Zelda," he asked loudly, ignoring the scandalized gasps at his use of her given name, "will you marry me?"

"Yes, Link," she replied with a smile, and he saw the faintest sparkle of happy tears in her eyes. "I will."

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Uploaded: 0:20 CDT, Saturday July 7, 2007 


	14. Epilogue

**-----------Twelve years and four months since Ganondorf's Defeat**

The king of Hyrule threw his sword down upon the grass and staggered away from a trying battle. "Whew! You fight like a darknut! You almost had me sweating that time," he teased as he took in one of the brightest lights in his life. She smiled up at him in the beautiful, pure way that had enthralled so many of Hyrule's people, not to mention stolen Link's heartstrings; her pale blue eyes shone bright in the sun and her dark blonde hair had been pulled into a messy knot.

"Again, Daddy?" Midna asked eagerly, waving her toy sword with great fervor.

"No, you have a very important appearance later tonight and I wouldn't want you falling asleep in front of all your loyal subjects. Oh, how they'd cry," he continued, sweeping his three-year-old daughter up into his arms, earning a delighted squeal. "They'd say, oh, that Princess Midna is such a heartbreaker… we only came to the ball to see her, but alas, she is asleep in the Royal Snugglebed…" he blew a noisy raspberry on his daughter's arm and she laughed, delighted.

"Have you two been playing at swords again?" asked Zelda, exasperated, as she rounded the corner into the courtyard. Malon was at her side carrying the currently snoring Valin Leonas, Jr. on her hip.

"I would never do something so irresponsible on the evening of such an enormous occasion as our four-year anniversary ball," stated Link cheekily, setting a delighted Midna on the ground. "Hello, Malon," he added with a nod to the beautiful redhead, who was glowing with her second pregnancy.

"Your daddy is lying to me again," Zelda said to their little daughter with a conspiratorial wink. "Right?"

"Right!" agreed Midna. "He said I almost beat him."

"Hey, hey, hey, I said you almost had me sweating. There's a large difference between making someone sweat and making someone lose."

"I almost won," stated Midna again, smiling angelically at her father. "Right, Daddy?"

Link sighed, knowing he could never deny his daughter anything. "Right, you spoiled little brat."

"You've got Daddy wrapped around your little finger, don't you?" the Queen asked her beloved little daughter, taking in the striking young beauty. She had skin like porcelain, hair a few shades darker than her mother's but wavy like her father's, and the pale blue eyes of a sacred wolf.

"Uh huh," Midna replied to her mother's query with a dazzling smile and an eager nod.

"I think it's time for a nap," Zelda said to her daughter fondly. "Miss Malon here is waiting for you so she can take you and Valin to the nursery. Thank you," the Queen added in an undertone to her friend.

"No problem," replied Malon with a grin, taking little Midna's hand. "Come on, Midna. Little Valin's already asleep- you're not going to let him beat you to taking a good nap, are you?"

"No!" said Midna stubbornly and began pulling on Malon's hand, attempting to forcefully move the maid and close family friend to the nursery quicker.

"You behave," Link called after her as she "dragged" Malon away- her thick hair was already bouncing out of its knot. "Is Daph in the nursery?" he asked his wife, watching as Malon disappeared inside with the two children.

"Yes, I'd just put him down before I came to find you two," replied the Queen, taking her husband's hand.

"Was he being fussy?"

"Never. He has the temperament of a sage- you know that."

"He got it from his mother," murmured Link, drawing his wife in close for an embrace. The two of them stood together for a few moments in their grassy haven of the royal family's courtyard- it was an ideal place for picnics, campouts, swordplay, and reenactments of the King's many adventures.

"I wish I could spend more time with the children," sighed Zelda quietly after a time. "It grieves me that I can not."

"Every day you get closer to achieving a good balance, though. You spend every moment you can with the kids, and you're handing off lesser duties more and more to your panel, and the country is still running as smoothly as ever."

"I also have a wonderful King working at my side," Zelda told Link affectionately. "Even if he can be a little pigheaded sometimes."

"Pigheaded, you say?" asked Link with a canine growl. "I'll show you pigheaded!" he leapt for her, grabbing her around the waist and dragging her down to the soft grass (which had long ago been enchanted to not inflict grass stains), tickling Zelda mercilessly. She shrieked with laughter and was very glad that the royal courtyard was so well secluded from the rest of the castle, and so quiet- oh, how people would stare if they could see their normally composed, regal, and tranquil Queen and King rolling around on the grass like puppies!

"I've arranged for us to have some time alone before the ball," Zelda informed her husband when he stopped tickling her at last, bright eyed as she laid below him. He leaned down and kissed her, gently and briefly, then stood up, pulling her up as well.

"That's good. I enjoy getting some good quality-time with my Queen," he murmured in her ear as they walked inside the palace. "Sometimes I wish I didn't have to share you with the rest of the country."

"The Queen's duty and love is to her people," Zelda agreed, "but the woman's heart is for her husband and her children alone."

"We should make some more," stated Link solemnly, though his eyes were bright and hot on his wife's as he pulled her hips to his. "Lots more."

"Link!" laughed Zelda, though her gaze too heated up. "You're impossible.

"Just the way you like me," he said with a grin, and then he opened the door of their room, pulled Zelda in, and bolted it firmly behind them.

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Uploaded: 0:20 CDT, Saturday July 7, 2007 


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